Chapter 481: Easter
Carefully serving Simon breakfast and respectfully seeing their boss off.
As the car disappeared from sight, Zoe Parks and Isabelle Dunn exchanged a glance and ran upstairs together.
At the door of a bedroom on the second floor of the Shell Villa, the two women lightened their steps and quietly pushed the door open. They passed through the outer living room and entered the bedroom, immediately seeing the scene inside.
The large bed was noticeably messy from some activity.
The housekeeper was still asleep, lying on her stomach, her head slightly tilted, arms hugging a pillow, revealing a section of fair, smooth shoulder.
However, the women's attention was drawn to the many "strawberries" on the housekeeper's exposed skin.
On her neck, arms, shoulders, and presumably under the covers as well.
Isabelle peered at her and then looked at Zoe, her voice trembling slightly, "Could she be... dead?"
She was immediately given a sideways glance.
Sensing the commotion nearby, the housekeeper quickly opened her eyes. Noticing the two heads by the bed, after a brief daze, she instinctively pulled up the blanket to cover herself, mustering a bit of attitude as she glared at Isabelle and Zoe. "What are you doing?"
Seeing the housekeeper awake, Zoe jumped onto the bed and teased, "Ellie, did you dump me?"
Alice wanted to reach out and flick Zoe on the forehead but reconsidered upon realizing her condition. Annoyed, she said, "Yes, now, can you leave?"
"Ah, women really are unreliable."
Zoe spoke in the tone of someone abandoned by a heartbreaker, her beautiful eyes glinting mischievously as she suddenly reached out.
The housekeeper was prepared. Zoe's attempt to pull away the blanket failed, and after a brief tussle, seeing Alice getting genuinely annoyed, they finally gave up and left the room.
Still wrapped in the blanket, Alice waited a while longer, ensuring the two wouldn't come back, then got out of bed and quickly locked the bedroom door, finally relaxing.
Turning towards the bathroom, as her guard dropped, she suddenly felt weak and stumbled.
Entering the bathroom, she turned on the faucet for hot water, hesitated, then looked at herself in the mirror.
And quickly looked away.
Bastard!
Images from last night flashed in her mind.
...
She only remembered biting him hard at the end.
But.
It seemed.
At least, she definitely used as much strength as she could then.
An hour later, after a shower and cleaning all traces, she went downstairs, fully dressed, glaring at Zoe, who was staring at her scarf, and sat down in the dining room to start eating breakfast.
After a moment, she noticed something.
Glancing at the 'sumptuous' food on the table, she glared again at the two women lingering nearby.
These two.
Obviously intentional.
Preparing so much food.
But.
She was really hungry.
Isabelle suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, "How did you seduce the boss?"
What?
Alice paused, thinking carefully.
It seemed, no clue.
Last night, out of curiosity, she had stared at a certain someone for a moment.
But that wasn't seduction, right?
She was indeed a bit flustered at the time, not recalling many details.
Or maybe.
It was simply that the certain someone suddenly got interested.
She had long expected this day to come and didn't intend to refuse.
But.
She couldn't recall how it exactly happened.
Thinking hard again, she vaguely remembered a moment last night in the living room when he looked at her strangely.
What was strange?
Hard to say.
Finally, she could only attribute it to a man's whim.
Unable to figure it out, she stopped thinking about it.
After breakfast, it was already past nine in the morning.
This return to Los Angeles was initially for discussing something with him.
About integrating a team-developed instant messaging software into Amazon's online store as a communication tool.
After preliminary talks with Jeff Bezos and his team, Bezos felt that doing so would significantly increase the labor cost for customer service due to the need for a large number of service personnel.
Although everyone agreed it was necessary, in the short term, Egret's operations were already at full capacity, and suddenly adding another team would significantly increase various pressures.
Moreover, the instant messaging software, named ICQ by Simon himself, supposedly had far-reaching plans beyond just being an online store communication tool. Using it solely for customer interaction seemed like a waste.
But.
For now, she decided to communicate these matters via email.
To avoid being bullied again.
Since she didn't plan to stay any longer, after breakfast, the housekeeper hurriedly flew to Houston, Texas.
This was a recruitment trip.
Egret's demand for high-end computer talent was constantly increasing, and the company had been lobbying the California government to increase visa quotas for overseas senior technical talents.
Amazon's online store was developing a new recommendation system to suggest books that users might be interested in.
Due to the emerging nature of the internet industry, professional technical talent was scarce, so they had to poach people based on their skills.
The planned recommendation system required not only basic programming but also developers with strong mathematical calculation abilities.
After some searching, Alice found that NASA had quite a few suitable talents.
The operation of the space shuttle and satellite orbit calculations were more specialized than Amazon's recommendation system, leading to the idea of poaching from NASA.
Over the past few weeks, due to Egret's generous compensation packages, some people had responded positively.
This time, the housekeeper personally flew to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for interviews, and then she would fly to Washington.
As Easter approached, many North American students began their annual spring break, and the Easter movie season officially kicked off.
On April 10, the week before Easter, two new films were released in North American theaters: Columbia Pictures' horror film "Sleepwalkers" and Fox's 2D animated film "FernGully: The Last Rainforest."
"Sleepwalkers," another adaptation of a Stephen King novel, told the story of a half-human, half-cat dreamwalker killer. It opened on 1864 screens.
"FernGully: The Last Rainforest" opened on 1401 screens, marking Fox's tentative foray into animated films.
From April 10 to April 16, "Sleepwalkers" grossed $12.4 million in its first seven days, taking the weekly box office crown. Its opening was moderate, with future performance dependent on the box office trend.
"FernGully: The Last Rainforest" didn't generate the expected buzz, grossing only $5.14 million in its first week on 1401 screens. Despite the family-friendly Easter atmosphere, its best box office potential was around $20 million in North America.
However, the production cost of this animated film was also $20 million.
Fox could only hope to recoup costs through subsequent channels.
This year's Easter fell on April 19. On April 16, Simon and Janet flew to Australia.
At the same time, Danelys Entertainment's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" officially released on April 17, opening on 2976 screens.
The success of the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was largely due to the widespread popularity of the animated IP and audience curiosity.
However, the live-action Turtles were not very appealing.
After careful consideration, the production and distribution teams targeted the sequel at teenage audiences, focusing on exciting action and adventure elements. MTV and other teen-focused media platforms became the primary channels for promoting "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II."
This adjustment was risky.
In the first film, a large portion of the audience consisted of children who loved the animated series.
However, Simon personally approved this risky move.
After all, sticking to the original path would likely lead to diminishing returns as seen in the original timeline where New Line Cinema's sequels saw a drop in box office.
The new positioning and attempt, even if unsuccessful, would still only match the original timeline's outcome.
Alongside "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II," Warner Bros. released "City of Joy" starring Patrick Swayze, known for his role in "Ghost." The film told the story of an American doctor working in an Indian slum.
Simon had seen the information about "City of Joy" in advance.
Directed by Roland Joffé, a two-time Oscar Best Director nominee, the film faced numerous obstacles during its shoot in India, repeatedly hindered by local authorities. Despite the challenges, the film's critical reception was lukewarm compared to Joffé's previous Oscar-nominated works, "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission."
Warner Bros. only allocated 811 screens for its opening.
While Simon was in Australia, the data for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" was immediately relayed to him.
The film's release received generally positive reviews from North American media, despite some PR influence, with an average rating of 7.1.
"Variety" magazine's review specifically praised "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" for its innovative plot structure.
As the most anticipated film of the Easter season and the one with the largest promotional effort, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" met expectations with its opening box office.
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $26.13 million from 2976 screens.
Although it didn't achieve a per-screen average of over ten thousand, the $26.13 million opening weekend was enough to overshadow all other films of the same period.
"City of Joy," opening the same day with a $27 million budget, almost equivalent to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II"'s $30 million production budget, grossed only $3.39 million in its first weekend.
Simon and his wife arrived in Melbourne on April 17 and returned to the US on April 23.
Besides visiting their little
ones, this trip to Melbourne also involved another matter with the Johnston family, concerning David Johnston and Leslie Wickett's wedding.
Despite some reluctance, under their son's insistence, Raymond Johnston finally agreed.
The wedding was scheduled for November at the end of the year, naturally in Melbourne.
Upon returning to the US, the first week's box office for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II" was officially out.
In seven days, the popular animated adaptation grossed $37.38 million.
A very impressive opening, exceeding the first film's $32.16 million by $5 million.
For Simon, this broke the trend of declining sequels in the original timeline for New Line Cinema and Paramount's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series.
Thus, even though Danelys Entertainment's distribution department predicted a 40% drop in the film's second-week box office based on the April 24 daily figures, far worse than the first film's 17% drop, Simon was still satisfied.
With a $37.38 million opening, even a 40% second-week drop still promised a North American total box office exceeding $100 million.
Compared to the $30 million production budget and $15 million marketing costs, Danelys Entertainment would profit from the North American box office alone.
With strong domestic reception and box office, the overseas market was sure to follow suit.
After Easter, the most attention-grabbing event was Cersei Capital's Apollo Management, which won the bid for LTD, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, with an offer of $2.45 billion, beating out KKR and Blackstone.
The acquisition, tangled for over two months since February, was finally settled.
In the final stages, KKR's bid was $1 billion higher than Cersei Capital's, reaching $2.55 billion.
However, compared to Cersei Capital's one-time full payment, KKR offered a three-year cash-plus-bonds combination.
KKR had yet to shake off the shadow of the RJR Nabisco acquisition, making LTD shareholders uneasy about their financial health. Despite a higher bid, KKR's competitiveness was less than Cersei Capital's.
Moreover, KKR's terms for corporate control were stricter, not agreeing to LTD founder Leslie Wexner's request to retain some shares and demanding his immediate resignation post-acquisition.
As LTD's founder, current chairman, and CEO, Leslie Wexner not only held significant voting power but also had strong influence over the company's shareholders and board.
KKR's aggressive stance on corporate control pushed Wexner towards Cersei Capital.
Additionally, Blackstone's attempts to collaborate with KKR and Cersei Capital both failed, leading to a non-public bid for LTD.
According to subsequent disclosures, Blackstone's offer was only $2.4 billion, naturally rejected.
In the end, LTD's board voted to accept Cersei Capital's proposal.
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