56. What kind of day is it?
The movie business is just a hobby of mine.
Even if I hit the jackpot here, I’d be looking at a $100-200 million payout in a few years, at best, three or four times my investment.
That’s pocket change to me now.
The day after Tom’s party, Jerry stopped by my office.
“Hey, I heard you almost got bitten by Amber yesterday.”
“Tom did?”
“Pooh-hah! Didn’t he say he had to stop you two from going out?”
“Aww, Tom says the most ridiculous things, and he’s so—.”
I said, embarrassed.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Who can resist a girl as pretty as Amber?”
“Isn’t that right?”
“Amber would stand out even in Hollywood, where she’s a beauty queen. The hardware is top notch, the software is a mess, but—.”
“No. What are the rumors, anyway?”
“You really don’t know?”
“What do you mean you don’t know? How am I supposed to know Hollywood gossip when I haven’t had time to pay attention to anything else in the last few years?”
“They said he took a sh*t.”
“Pooped? Isn’t it normal for a human being to poop when they eat?”
“Of course it’s normal, it’s the place where you poop that’s the problem.”
“What? What do you mean, where?”
“He said he pooped on the bed he shares with Johnny.”
“Chi, the bed? You pooped in the bed?”
“Maybe if you have a hobby like that, we could hook up? Fuhahahaha!”
“…”
No, what kind of crazy b*tch is this?
It’s not like she’s a dog or something—.
“Hmph, it’s a big world and there are a lot of crazy people.”
“Hmph, there are more in Hollywood. Always be careful. With your kind of money, there’s a whole army of gold diggers who’ll do anything for you. What if you get bitten?”
“Bite me?”
“You’re gonna have to spend years suing me, aren’t you? Just like Johnny.”
“Huh—.”
“There’s only two things you need to watch out for on this floor.”
“What’s that?”
“Drugs and women!”
I was expecting that, but I wasn’t expecting Jerry to say it.
He’s got a Hollywood bone in his body, so I thought he’d be a natural.
“Women are women, but drugs will lead you to ruin, and I mean that in the most sincere way possible.”
“Oh, I’m Korean, so I don’t even look at that stuff, but I’m surprised, I thought a Hollywood producer would be a little more drug-free?”
“Don’t say that, I lost my best friend to drugs.”
“What? Who do you mean?”
“My friend Don, Don Simpson—.”
“Oh! He did drugs too?”
“Yeah, he did it badly, too. I nagged him a lot, but he wouldn’t listen. Finally, when we were filming The Rock, he overdosed and passed away.”
“Ah—.”
Don Simpson was a longtime collaborator of Jerry’s with whom he had formed a divine partnership.
I knew he died a long time ago, but I didn’t realize it was from drugs.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Jerry.”
“Well, it was a long time ago. Now, enough of that depressing stuff, how about we read the script?”
“This is good, I think it’s going to be one of the best in the Bad Guys series.”
“hahahahaha, right?”
“But it seems like there’s a little less action in it?””Well, to spend less money—.”
“…”
Still, not this one.
“How much have you raised for the production? I heard you’re looking at a total of 90 million dollars?”
“Seventy million of that is committed, the rest is undecided.”
“Are you sure it’s only $90 million? I mean, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, that’s a lot of money.”
“But the director is cheap, right?”
“Huh—.”
Was this what ejaculation was?
“I think the screenplay is pretty much perfect, but it lacks action.”
“You’re surprisingly knowledgeable about movies, I see, but the movie industry is a genre that marries capital, so you have to make do with what you have.”
“Well, here’s what I’ll do: add some screenplay action, just bang, bang, bang.”
“And the money?”
“I can give it to you, right?”
“Really?”
“Sure. Let’s call it a six-figure investment, and we’ll have a budget that’s like a second movie.”
“hahahahaha!”
From nob le mt l. co m
Jerry tried to tempt me to invest more by showing me other scenarios, but I politely declined.
It wasn’t his job, and this was enough.
The stock prices of both Nvidia and AMD continued to rise, ignoring our worries.
AMD’s stock price, in particular, has been remarkable, going from around $15 to over $30 by September.
It had doubled in a matter of months.
“That’s a huge jump.”
“Well, it’s all in the expected range, right?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Still, John and I are looking for a time to sell some of our AMD stock.
Because I’m sure it’s going to start crashing soon.
“I got a call from Lisa earlier.”
“What did she say?”
“She said the stock is going up hard and well, so don’t mess with it.”
“Dr. Sue is amazing, how does she know us so well?”
“Well, he’s been beaten up a time or two, right?”
“Still, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?”
“Of course!”
“Hmph!”
“Hmph!”
From nob le mt l. co m
John and I shed phonemes like villains.
“We’ll start selling it soon.”
“How much do you think you’ll be able to sell for?”
“I think we’ll stay around the $30 mark for a while, but we’ve got so many that it’s hard to sell them all at that level.”
“Then at what price do you think you can?”
“Let’s try to average around the $27 mark.”
“Okay, just give me 30%. Now that I think about it, I think 40% is too much.”
“Okay, I thought 40% was a bit much too, too, so let’s settle on $28.”
“Okay. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes, boss.”
“What is it?”
“Just make sure Dr. Sue doesn’t call me directly, that’s all.”
“You want me to do the bulletproofing?”
“Isn’t that what you always do, hahahahaha!”
“…”
Maybe I should give Lisa a wine company this time.
“Humph, how’s Nvidia doing?”
“Still hovering in the low $60s to low $70s, right? We started selling ours in late August.”
“Hmmm, Nvidia has a large market cap, so if we sell slowly, it won’t have much of an impact, right?”
“Yes, because they have a market capitalization of $160 billion.”
“How much have you sold now?”
“We’ve sold 20% of our holdings, with an average selling price of $68 because we sold heavily on the upside.”
“How much do you think it will end up being?”
“We’re aiming for an average of $67.”
“You should probably wait until next month, early October, to sell, because after that, I don’t have a good feeling.”
Beads said.
“Okay, I’m thinking the same thing. Me, too.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“It’s a suggestion from one of our people, but if you think Nvidia’s stock is going to crash, why don’t you go short?””Short?”
“Yes, a short sale is—.”
“No. I know what a short sale is.”
“Well, how do you do it? Surely you can make some extra profit?”
“What do you think, John?”
“I’m not sure. In the old days, I would have gone for it.”
“Why?”
“If it was just institutions, I wouldn’t care, but Nvidia has too many individual investors. As you know, a short sale basically has to drive the stock price down, and in this case, it’s just adding gasoline to a fire that’s about to explode even if it doesn’t. I don’t think an investor should be thinking this way, but I don’t want to get into a game that’s structurally unfair to institutional and retail investors. Oh, and of course, if the boss tells me to, I’ll do it.”
“Ho-oh?”
From what I heard from Jung Hoon-i, John had been a bloodless investor in his heyday, but it seemed like he had changed a lot.
Of course, I liked the changed John.
“hahahahaha, I’m thinking the same thing. Even without dabbling in short selling, we’re doing really well, aren’t we?”
“That’s right, boss.”
“Let’s just stick to what we’re doing, there’s still astronomical profits waiting for us.”
“hahahahaha! Got it, boss!”
“Instead, don’t just sell 50% of Nvidia, sell 80% or more. We can buy it back next year, right?”
“Got it, boss.”
No way, Jensen Huang is not going to call me, is he?
He wouldn’t even have my number?
We owned more than 10% of Nvidia’s stock, but he didn’t even put our director on the board, and he gave Jensen Huang his full support.
Not me, but I’ve called him several times to say thank you, and I’m sure I’ll call him this time because I’m probably going to get a little testy.
Well, I’m covering AMD, so he can cover Nvidia.
“So when do we start buying back Nvidia?”
“What do you think, John?”
“I think we should start buying back when it gets down to $35.”
“You’re thinking in terms of half?”
“Yeah, that’s right, I think that’s the limit of my analysis, and if we wait for it to go lower, we’ll be out of luck.”
“hahahahaha, I agree. Buy slowly until the first half of next year.” “Got it, boss.”
If things go as we think, Nvidia stock will double.
“What about Tesla, this is the most ambiguous one, but—.”
“It’s going back and forth in the low $50s right now, right?”
“Yes, it does.”
Tesla is one of my long-term strategic investments, and the beads didn’t look good in the short term.
From nob le mt l. co m
John’s analysis was the same.
“If it goes over $70, I’ll pop it. Sell and buy back next year.”
“You mean all of it?”
“Yes, sell all of it.”
“Okay.”
By October, predictably, AMD and Nvidia’s stock prices began to fall.
Then,
BANG!
“Oh, my God! Oh, knock, knock, knock!”
Lisa burst into my office unannounced.
“Alex, you’ve got to be kidding me! I’m losing GPU sales because the coin is dropping, and you’re losing money!”
“Lisa! Sit down! Sit down!”
“Shut up! I’ve raised the stock price by a few bucks at best, and you’re trying to sell me out?”
“Thirty percent!”
“Thirty percent of what?”
“You sold thirty percent of the stock we own, and you haven’t sold a single share since October, have you?”
“Really?”
“I swear, we’re never going to sell, and we’re going to buy back at the end of the year!”
“How long are you going to do this?”
“This is the last time, at least for AMD, I swear!”
“You say that one more time and I’m going to kick your ass?”
These are the scariest words in the world.
Because Lisa is AMD itself.
“I swear to God, and by the way, do you want the winery?”
“Shut up! Who am I to bet my life on wine? Keep your word, Alex!”
“Yep!”
Bang!
Lisa slammed the door as hard on her way out as she had on her way in.
“Oh my God, I’m selling my stock, what’s all the fuss about?”
Still, it’s Lisa.
I can deal with her.
“Whew!”
After Lisa swept through my office like a tornado, I downed a shot of whiskey to calm myself down.
Gulp!
“Hey, c’mon, knock, knock, knock!”
This time it was John.
“Boss!”
“Why?”
“Jensen Huang is here.”
“Who?”
“Jensen Huang from Nvidia is here.”
“…”
What day is it?