I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1154: The Future]

After chatting with everyone for a while, Eric checked the time and saw it was already five in the afternoon, so he stood up to say goodbye.

Upon hearing that Eric was leaving today, the girls looked even more disappointed than Carmen Kass. Eugenia Volodina boldly interjected, "Eric, it's already quite late. Why don't you stay until tomorrow?"

"There will be things to do tomorrow," Eric said as he slipped on the shoes Carmen handed him. Standing at the entrance, he smiled at the group of girls who had gathered to see him off, "We can chat again next time. It's raining outside, so you all don't need to come out."

With Eric saying so, the girls obediently stayed in the living room, but Carmen insisted on following him downstairs.

Although summer nights were long, the rain made it feel like dusk outside.

Two cars were already parked by the side of the road. A bodyguard saw Eric and Carmen come out of the apartment and got out to open the car door for them.

As they reached the car, Eric noticed the reluctant expression on the girl's face and gently nudged her waist, saying, "Get in; take me a bit further."

They climbed into the car, and Eric watched as the woman handed the umbrella to the bodyguard. She sat down, feeling a bit anxious; she hoped Eric wouldn't just take her straight to Los Angeles. It seemed like he would take Gisele and the others with him?

That couldn't happen.

Once Eric was settled, he noticed Carmen's eyes flickering and smiled, "I can only take you to the Hudson River; I'm flying from there to Long Island Airport."

With that, she relaxed a little but felt a twinge of disappointment still lingering. If he forcibly took her to Los Angeles, she wouldn't be able to resist.

One of Eric's hands reached over to gently cup her face, prompting her to close her eyes and feel the softness of the kiss he laid on her lips. He let go, whispering, "Don't overthink it, and don't worry too much. I prefer you when you pounce on me to bite."

Her cheeks flushed, and she leaned against him, asking, "When can you come back next time?"

"That's uncertain," Eric replied, wrapping his arm around her waist. "But I will definitely be coming to New York more frequently. Plus, you can visit Los Angeles anytime. There's usually a Gulfstream V at the Long Island airport. Call the number I gave you, and they'll make arrangements. And it's not just Los Angeles; you can go wherever you want. Just keep in mind that private jets rust if they sit idle for too long, so think of it as helping me out."

As she leaned on him and listened to his comforting words, she felt warm inside, unable to hold back a smile.

She had never thought of using his private jet before, even though she understood that to him, those were just like regular cars. However, without him by her side, she was sure she would feel very nervous.

But on the surface, she nodded, "Then I can visit my mom anytime."

"A Gulfstream V can definitely reach Eastern Europe. But if you want to go back, I can lend you the big plane; it's more comfortable for long distances."

"Okay."

Eric leaned in to brush against her soft long hair and added, "I just saw them and suddenly thought about something. Have you thought about the future?"

She repeated in confusion, "The future?"

She had some small plans for her future previously, but too many things had happened recently, leaving her life in disarray. There was hardly any time to think about tomorrow.

"Exactly," Eric faced her lovely face. "As a woman of the Williams family, you can certainly choose not to work for the rest of your life. However, I hope you can still do something."

Hearing the way he referred to her, her body stiffened momentarily before softening again as she replied, "But I don't know what to do?"

"Firefly is going to have plenty of arrangements in Eastern Europe, with a temporary focus on Finland. Estonia is right next to Finland, and since you're there, perhaps you could set up some things over there; when the time comes, you can be in charge of some tasks," Eric suggested, pausing before continuing, "Of course, it might be a bit early for you. How about this -- I'll take some time and talk to Paul Roland about investing in WM and making you a partner in this agency. While you work as a model, you can learn how to manage the company."

"Okay, I'll listen to you," she nodded, hesitating before adding, "Actually, I could invest my own money into WM; the endorsement fees from Victoria's Secret and Dior, plus some others."

After saying that, she glanced at Eric nervously.

Although WM wasn't on the same level as industry giants like Elite and IMG, as a contracted model wanting to take a stake in the company, she would surely be turned away without mercy.

However, with Eric's backing, the situation would definitely be different. The shareholders at WM wouldn't mind the money from a model but would love to connect with the towering Firefly empire.

Eric had merely intended for Carmen to gain some experience and was not interested in small companies like WM. Hearing her say that, he nodded without much thought, "Alright, just don't get upset if you lose money."

The Firefly empire's annual marketing budget was in the billions, with ample funds allocated for models, not to mention the entire Hollywood scene. Even forgetting about all that, simply getting a few more angel slots for Victoria's Secret would be enough to keep WM thriving; how could it possibly incur losses?

Thinking this through, she added, "Maybe you could invest a bit in WM as well."

If the Firefly empire completely withheld investment, it would still feel somewhat unbalanced.

Eric chuckled, "Good idea; you've begun to think strategically. In that case, you should talk to Paul Roland yourself. Tell him Firefly is only looking for 10% equity, and whatever you can negotiate for yourself, it's all up to you and him; I'll just foot the bill in the end."

Hearing this, she felt somewhat bashful but her mind also started to race with ideas.

Model management companies didn't have the same antitrust restrictions as Hollywood management firms, but competition was fierce due to the low entry barrier. Even after the emergence of the Victoria's Secret angels, the commercial value of top supermodels had skyrocketed, yet the multinational agencies like Elite only made around four to five hundred million a year, with even lower profit margins.

In comparison, WM felt like a small fry next to the Firefly empire.

However, it could provide her with a valuable platform beyond just catwalks. She had never been one to accept mediocrity; previously she just hadn't had a chance. Now, with the support of the man beside her, she was feeling more eager than ever to prove herself.

...

Considering future travels between Long Island and Manhattan, Eric had even built a helicopter pad by the Hudson River, right at the end of 66th Street, which directly accessed the ABC headquarters in the Upper West Hydee.

As they talked, the car rolled into the closed private helicopter pad gate. A black VH-60 helicopter was waiting by the river. Just like the East Coast, there were also two VH-60s stationed at Long Island Airport.

The rain showed no signs of stopping today. After getting out of the car, Eric exchanged a few words with Carmen before hurriedly boarding the helicopter with his entourage, flying towards Long Island Airport.

Holding the umbrella, she stood by the pad, tilting her face up. Her gaze followed the large black helicopter as it circled north along the Hudson River before speeding eastward until it disappeared from sight, and then she retreated under the umbrella.

The mixed emotions of parting blended with earlier excitement, leaving her feeling somewhat downcast.

Two black Mercedes cars remained parked nearby, their drivers also part of Firefly's security department. They would take Eric's personal vehicles back to the company garage, where they would be maintained until his next visit.

Following the previous incident involving eavesdropping, security measures around Eric had become even stricter.

Carmen wasn't the type to bother others. After the helicopter's shadow vanished completely, she noticed the two cars waiting for her and quickly walked over.

The driver opened the door, took her umbrella, and then helped her into the car. The two cars left the pad one after the other.

A few minutes later, back at her apartment, opening the door felt like the magical pumpkin carriage's gown disappearing all at once.

Fortunately, he could surely find her without a glass slipper.

The girls had not left. Seeing her return, they rushed over, giggling and asking questions. Although she was about to become one of their bosses, she wasn't in a hurry to reveal this and quickly discussed where they should all have dinner.

...

While driving from Manhattan to Long Island's private airport took at least two hours, the helicopter made it in just half an hour.

Gisele and the three girls had already been waiting at the airport for a few hours. When Eric finally arrived, they couldn't help but complain a bit, but once on the Boeing 747, excitement took over.

Since Carmen had gotten things started, on the way back to Los Angeles, Eric also invited Gisele to his study for a detailed chat.

Among the three girls, he had always valued Gisele the most.

Gisele's contract was still with Elite, and unlike Carmen, Eric didn't want Gisele to take a stake in Elite.

Compared to WM, Elite was already a publicly traded company. Although he could easily buy out Elite based on its market value, Gisele was clearly not at a level ready to participate in Elite's management.

After a discussion, Eric made a call to Cindy on the plane, temporarily arranging for Gisele to work at Cindy's production company.

As for Alessandra and Miranda, Eric didn't have plans for them; they didn't have Gisele's ambition and always needed a few pure "trophies" around.

...

The arrangements for Carmen and Gisele were not whims of Eric's.

With the Firefly empire at its current scale, it certainly needed to pursue global expansion.

It wasn't that Firefly's growth in North America had hit its limits; in fact, aside from the initial Hollywood layout being completed, various technology companies under Firefly were still in the early stages of rapid growth.

However, whether it was Yahoo, Cisco, or Nokia, these companies were destined to become global giants.

If expansion only occurred after North America reached saturation, it would undoubtedly be missing the best timing.

On the other hand, given Firefly's current scale, to smoothly execute overseas expansion, it needed substantial investment arrangements abroad to avoid significant obstacles.

Take Europe; in the coming years, North America would shift from a continuous anti-monopoly investigation of global tech giants like Microsoft to a more laissez-faire attitude of fostering them, while the increasingly expanding European Union would continue to suppress these companies by various means.

Thus, establishing Firefly's influence in Europe ahead of time would greatly reduce future troubles.

Of course, at present, if Firefly aimed to foster allies, it often meant targeting entire countries or even multiple ones, not merely investing in some politicians. After all, only country-level support could provide substantial assistance to the massive Firefly empire.

In reality, with Nokia's significant role in Finland's economy and Firefly holding absolute control over this mobile giant, the empire already had considerable influence in Finland.

As a member of the EU, if the future EU tried to suppress Firefly's interests -- involving not just Nokia but also other companies like Yahoo and Cisco -- Finland would inevitably stand by Firefly.

However, relying only on Finland was clearly insufficient.

Among the major EU member states, fostering ties with Germany and France posed significant challenges. Both countries, having reached peak economic development, were nearly stagnant and were not part of Eric's ideal target.

In contrast, the support from News Corporation could provide great assistance to Eric in the UK, but he couldn't bank on Murdoch, especially since the UK had consistently maintained an ambiguous relationship with the EU.

Thus, self-reliance was the key.

In Europe, the focus would naturally be on the rapidly developing Eastern European nations, perhaps even including Russia.

Pursuing comprehensive economic and political penetration throughout Eastern Europe would not only open a massive market of hundreds of millions of people for the Firefly empire but also ensure that even if the EU later sought to economically confront the U.S., Firefly would not be a casualty caught in the crossfire.

Outside of Eastern Europe, Eric's other target was Latin America.

In the 70s and 80s, Latin America's economy experienced rapid growth, quite similar to that of Southeast Asia in the early 90s.

However, due to various developmental strategy errors and the clear unwillingness of the U.S. to allow a competing economy to emerge in its "backyard," Latin American economies began to decline in the late 80s.

This presented another golden opportunity for Firefly's overseas expansion.

After all, despite its long-term malaise, Latin America was still a vast market with over 500 million people.

Moreover, beyond straightforward expansion, establishing Firefly as a standalone economic entity, independent of any state-level influence, was Eric's ultimate goal.

Therefore, both Carmen Kass and Gisele were regarded as seeds Eric was nurturing.

He didn't expect too much from the two girls, but if they succeeded, as his women, Eric would be more than willing to see them play an important role within the entire Firefly system.

*****

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