[Chapter 537: IMAX Theaters]
William White really didn't care whether the Soviet Union stayed union or split; he just hoped to cash in as much as possible. The over a hundred IMAX theaters he started up cost a fortune. No matter how wealthy he was, he couldn't waste money like this -- it was just too extravagant.
Initially, when the major theater chains in the U.S. heard about his plan for a global theater chain, they panicked. They thought, "You can't just take all the money for yourself!" If there wasn't a satisfactory explanation, they wouldn't hesitate to turn against him, believing the Justice Departnt couldn't do anything about it.
However, when they learned it was an IMAX chain, they quickly decided to back down.
"Alright, you're the big guy, you go ahead," they thought, even if it didn't follow the usual rules, they felt there was nothing they could do. Starting at ten million dollars was sothing they couldn't manage. It'd take forever to earn that back, so they decided to wait and see.
In Arica, movie studios weren't prohibited from investing in theater chains, rather they can only hold minority, non-controlling shares in theater chains. In fact, most of the major Hollywood players had so stake in them.
But this was a rare case; no one else was doing it this way.
The theater chains understood. They thought William White was just trying to sell his equipnt. IMAX really was a major business -- from filmmaking to film stock to projection equipnt, it ford a complete industrial chain.
Just to note, one film copy cost around ten thousand dollars. If a movie flopped, then it would be disastrous.
No one believed William White was artificially inflating prices; IMAX films weren't a new thing -- they had been around since the 1970s. The reason it wasn't widespread? Well, nobody could afford the exorbitant costs.
3D movies had a brief boom in Arican history; back then, people thought it would replace traditional films.
Unfortunately, the 3D fad faded away. Almost everyone who invested in it, from film companies to theater chains, faced heavy losses. IMAX films were rely a branch of that industry.
The billionaire started to recycle old ideas. While it surprised so, no one rashly jumped in. The investnt was simply too large, and they couldn't afford to gamble like that. One copy cost so much; what more could be said?
Jurassic Park?
Sure, it had a lot of buzz, but it wasn't nearly enough. How could one or two movies support an entire chain? Didn't they notice the billionaire was being very cautious? For ordinary theaters, if they didn't have three to five hundred locations, it would be quite embarrassing.
These folks didn't realize that one or two films wouldn't cut it. Not to ntion Jurassic Park was in production; didn't The Lion King have an IMAX version too? And that wasn't all -- Star Wars was also getting a re-release, along with his Terminator. This was already a promising start.
Moreover, his theaters generally had three or four screens, while the IMAX auditoriums usually accommodated only two screens. Frankly, the ridiculous price now made William White quite annoyed.
He was practically planning to rob the Soviets, thinking that taking back a few billion wouldn't hurt the place.
"Filson, go tell those kids that with all these orders, if they can't lower costs, I'll send them to Africa to mine."
"Uh, sure thing, sir, but the prices should co down. We've already contacted the distributors."
"Alas, the exchange rate is so high now. If it was still 250, I would be very happy. Damn, you buy a few things and it's twice as expensive. Who knows if the Japanese have even survived?"
Of course, the Japanese were certainly fine; though many had died, their economy remained afloat. As for those who died, they were just unlucky. Losing money in stocks wasn't a big deal unless soone hit it big at the peak -- then it was a tragedy.
Simply put, the ordinary people weren't stock traders. If soone was wholesale trading, you might as well leave a portion for average investnts, right?
But throwing it all in like that, how could they possibly rescue their stocks?
As for those using leverage, well, they ended up dying in the previous round. Once stock prices fell by half, no matter how cautious you were, you'd still end up like a dead fish.
"Sir, their land prices and property values are starting to stabilize; it's largely due to a lack of funds buying in. If soone is genuinely interested, certain properties are now available at a ten percent discount."
"Eh, that's not a huge drop; why worry about it?"
Filson was speechless. Just a short while ago, buying these hos required a lottery; out of hundreds of people, only one would get lucky. How quickly had things changed? Now they were giving discounts.
Real estate, much like stocks, tends to over-inflate during a boom and plumt just as dramatically during a decline. The internationally accepted asure suggests that ten years' worth of rent is a fair indicator of property price.
Once it exceeds that standard, it's considered a bubble. If it falls below that mark, it might have so investnt value.
They said the real estate market in Japan had a bubble because properties worth hundreds of millions of yen were commonplace. To William White, it was just the usual business.
A hundred million yen was only about a million dollars. Sure, the black market could double that, but the official rate only went so far.
When Filson ntioned an interest in property prices dropping by ten percent, the Japanese felt a bit nervous, worried about falling into destitution. William White wished to tell him how trivial that was. Properties worth over two hundred million yen dropping to twenty million was common.
Like I said before, when prices hike, they can overshoot. When they fall, prices can do the sa. The bottom of the Japanese stock and real estate markets still held potential for investnts. Just be careful -- don't make any hasty moves. After the last painful lesson, no one would want to speculate too much before the major players fell flat.
Why did the Japanese and Arican real estate markets crash?
Because it was mostly the banks holding these assets. For them, anything unsellable was considered junk, and as long as soone bought it, even a dollar was acceptable.
"Filson, with things going this way, it seems the consortiums are in a bit of trouble. Haha, serves them right! They didn't want to include , and now it's good; less trouble for ."
"Heh, they're still thinking about loaning to us."
"No way, are they crazy, or do they think I look like an idiot?"
"I guess they've run out of options."
"Just give them a private notice; we don't accept any assets from Japan at our bank. Isn't the world warming up? If those get flooded, where would I go to recover my losses?"
"Alright, I'll inform the auditing departnt. They'll use very strict criteria to evaluate."
This decision by William White effectively closed off access to loans. Ten percent off doesn't an much; 80 percent would be better. Moreover, I heard Japan might raise taxes!
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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