Through James Raybould's connections, Simon quickly learned that Lehman Brothers was about to settle with Quantum Fund.
The only 'flaw' in Westeros Company's stock index futures operations over the past five months was the S&P 500 index's sharp drop on October 22.
Lehman Brothers unexpectedly leaked the news that it was about to sell a large number of Quantum Fund contracts, which caused the recently stabilized S&P 500 index to collapse again. Westeros Company happened to liquidate the last batch of short contracts within a few short hours, and this coincidence was indeed full of traces of artificial manipulation.
Now, media pressure, covert investigations, wiretapping, increased psychological pressure through questioning, and finally forcing Lehman Brothers to cooperate with a sting operation. After half a month of repeated troubles, with the news of Lehman Brothers' settlement with Quantum Fund, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund reach a settlement, institutions such as the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will no longer be able to drag Westeros Company into the water through their investigation of this case. As for other matters, if the authorities continue to be relentless, Simon doesn't mind spending tens of millions of dollars to fight a high-profile lawsuit.
To avoid further complications, all parties clearly did not want to drag this matter on for too long.
So, on November 23, Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund quickly signed a settlement agreement.
It happened to be the same day.
Madonna officially released her latest remix album, 'You Can Dance'.
Unlike studio albums and live albums, remix albums are usually re-arranged versions of a singer's previous album songs. Of course, for an album to sell well, it's naturally impossible for all of them to be old songs. Madonna originally prepared a new song called 'Spotlight' for this album. However, after Simon presented another song, Queen Madonna decisively cut the very mediocre 'Spotlight' and replaced it with the song Simon provided.
News that Simon would be writing songs for Madonna's new album had spread months ago. During this time, due to the exposure of Simon suddenly becoming a billionaire, the promotion of Madonna's new album barely made any waves in the face of such explosive news.
After confirming that Lehman Brothers was about to settle with Quantum Fund, Simon's public relations team also began to cool down the media frenzy that had lasted for more than half a month.
Immediately, when Madonna's new album was released, many people's attention was instantly drawn to it because the song Simon provided was titled 'Celebration'.
Celebration: A celebration.
A certain guy earned over a billion dollars in just over five months, and now he's escaped investigation by federal government agencies. It's perfectly fitting to celebrate with a song called 'Celebration'.
Most importantly, both ordinary fans and the North American media almost immediately agreed on one point: 'Celebration' completely outshone all other songs on Madonna's remix album.
Speaking of which, 'Celebration' was actually a pop dance song with a nostalgic feel that Queen Madonna released in 2009 in the original timeline. Simon was not a fan of Queen Madonna's music, but 'Celebration' was one of the few Madonna songs he really liked.
Although it was a 2009 song, this hard-hitting pop dance track, in terms of style, rhythm, and content, perfectly matched the album style of 'You Can Dance'. Moreover, the quality of 'Celebration' far surpassed Madonna's earlier best-selling singles like 'Holiday'.
Thanks to the strong popularity brought by 'Celebration', in the following week, 'You Can Dance' debuted at number one on the North American Billboard Top Albums chart with first-week sales of 510,000 copies. 'Celebration' also became the number one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 without any suspense.
As a rehashed remix album, the industry originally estimated that global sales of around 5 million copies would be very successful. But now, based on the album's first-week sales data, 'You Can Dance' could reach 5 million copies in North America alone, and total global sales are almost certainly going to exceed 10 million.
After the first-week sales figures were released, Madonna eagerly called Simon, inviting him to her new album's success party at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. However, after spending Thanksgiving in New York, Simon returned to Los Angeles with the crew of 'When Harry Met Sally', which had recently wrapped filming, and thus had to decline Queen Madonna's invitation.
Amidst a myriad of tasks, time had unknowingly slipped into the last month of 1987.
Upon his return to Los Angeles, Simon devoted most of his energy to the post-production of 'Pulp Fiction'.
However, although he had escaped investigation by federal agencies, the series of chain reactions caused by his vast wealth of over a billion dollars had not ended. Simon's biggest feeling during this period was that he had truly become a 'fat sheep'.
Since the news broke in early November, Simon had been constantly receiving donation requests from many charities, public welfare organizations, university funds, and the like.
Next, what made Simon feel most helpless was that in just one month, many men and women claiming to be his parents appeared all over North America, trying to claim kinship, most of them acting as if it were a serious matter.
The media also seemed very keen on helping Simon find his relatives, fanning the flames and making the situation even livelier.
As for Los Angeles, after the stock market crash, the prosperity that Hollywood had experienced in the previous few years due to the economic boom abruptly came to a halt. Many second and third-tier film companies, which were already in financial difficulties due to excessive expansion, would be completely unable to sustain themselves in the coming years. Even the seven major film studios began to change hands in the years that followed.
So, in the eyes of most people in Hollywood, Simon, who suddenly had a net worth of over a billion dollars, was even more of a super cash cow.
From the first day Simon returned to Los Angeles, people were submitting scripts, seeking investments, and even wanting to sell their film companies to him. In short, the headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment in Santa Monica was bustling with activity these days, and Simon himself received a pile of party invitations every day.
Of course, although somewhat annoying, the current situation was not entirely without benefits.
When Simon previously scouted for copyrights, he only obtained the adaptation rights for two novels he had anticipated, 'Forrest Gump' and 'Dances with Wolves'. This was mainly because his influence in Hollywood was too weak. Despite the success of 'Run Lola Run' and 'The Butterfly Effect', most novelists and screenwriters would not easily hand over their copyrights to Daenerys Entertainment.
Now, with Simon suddenly having a net worth of over a billion dollars, the situation immediately changed completely.
In an era when the average film production cost was still only over ten million dollars, Simon's net worth of over a billion dollars was completely sufficient to produce any film that piqued his interest.