America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 930 - 868 The Queens Chess Game
Chapter 930: Chapter 868 The Queen’s Chess Game
Chapter 930: Chapter 868 The Queen’s Chess Game
Sunset Boulevard, Smoky House Bar.
In one of the booths, Leonardo opened a bottle of wine and poured a glass for himself and for Nicholson sitting opposite him, and said, “That bastard Martin actually stood us up.”
Nicholson picked up his glass and took a small sip, “He mentioned Hard Hastings, the founder of Netflix?”
Leonardo had a better understanding of this, “The founder and current chairman of Netflix.”
Nicholson glanced at Leonardo and, losing interest in him, asked, “I remember that bastard Martin invested in Netflix. How much is he worth now?”
“Not only did he invest in Netflix, but also in Apple and Tesla.” Leonardo picked up his glass and clinked it with Nicholson’s, “I’m not exactly sure how much he’s got, but we can calculate it.”
Nicholson thought of Lorraine.
Leonardo estimated, “Martin has a lot of Apple stocks, all bought as individual shares from the stock market. He started buying early, from 2006 onwards, the current value is at least 2 billion US dollars.”
Nicholson grinned bearishly at that.
“Tesla’s easiest to estimate, we’ve dealt with that chubby Musk quite a bit. The Tesla shares Martin has are worth more than 1 billion US dollars, and that’s a conservative estimate.” Leonardo continued, “Then there’s Netflix, I don’t know how much Martin has exactly, but that should be no less than 1.5 billion US dollars.”
Nicholson looked at Leonardo sitting across from him, fat and ugly, not a good match for Lorraine.
Leonardo went on, “Martin’s Davis Film Studio owns the rights to many blockbuster movies. Although the studio is not public, it must be worth at least 500 million US dollars. Then there’s the brand collaboration with Coca-Cola, the real estate and other fixed assets, nearly 100 million US dollars in annual endorsement income, high appearance fees, and offline revenue splits…”
Nicholson dragged his fingers across the table, silently calculating for a while, “At least 6.5 billion US dollars in assets.”
“That’s the most conservative estimate.” Leonardo recalled, “I remember last year’s Forbes listed Hard Hastings with only 3 billion US dollars in assets, not even half of what Martin has.”
Although Nicholson was an outsider, he knew the basics, “He raised too much capital.”
Leonardo drank with him again and poured more wine, “That bastard Martin has a good eye for selecting movies and for investing. Now, that bastard is the richest among the three of us.”
Nicholson decided to give up on Leonardo, “You and Lorraine can forget it. I don’t like to force anyone, won’t pressure you two…”
“Wait a minute!” Leonardo interrupted him, “There’s really nothing between me and Lorraine, okay?”
Nicholson said, “Alright, there’s nothing between you two.” He saw Martin approaching from behind Leonardo and deliberately steered the conversation, “Let’s set a new target…”
Leonardo got excited, “Right! We’ll get Martin to marry Lorraine, the kind without a prenup, and split his fortune. Remember to give me half!”
Martin arrived from behind, grabbed Leonardo by the neck, with his knuckles hard against his temple, “Say ten times you’re the biggest idiot and waste of space in America, or I’ll blow your head off!”
Leonardo pointed at Nicholson opposite him, “Jack is the biggest idiot and waste of space in America!”
Martin pushed that damn fool aside and pulled up a bar stool to sit down.
Leonardo poured him a glass of wine and asked, “Done talking business with Netflix?”
“Just discussed a project.” Martin nodded, remembering a series from his previous life, and asked, “You’ve been in Hollywood for decades, seen a lot, have you ever heard of a script, novel, or nonfiction related to chess?”
Leonardo shook his head, “That subject is too niche, there seem to be very few similar works, I haven’t paid attention to it before, nor have I heard anyone mention it.”
“Chess?” Nicholson frowned, trying to remember, “I think I’ve seen something like that, it’s been too long, let me think.”
Martin and Leonardo went silent.
Nicholson thought carefully for a while, took another sip of his drink, and then said, “In the seventies last century, not long after Sharon Tate died, I saw a novel at Roman Polanski’s place. Polanski liked chess, and that novel was about chess.”
Because of the connection between Polanski and Sharon Tate, he still had some memories, otherwise, after so many years, he would have completely forgotten, “It was about an orphan girl in the fifties and sixties growing up to be a top international chess master; the title was… probably called ‘The Queen’s Gambit.'”
Martin checked online and to his surprise, found nothing—was it because it was a niche novel about a niche sport?
Nicholson affirmed, “Yes, that’s right, it’s called ‘The Queen’s Gambit.'”
Martin trusted the old scoundrel, took out his phone and sent messages separately to Thomas and Jessica, telling them to look for this novel and see if there was anything related in the industry.
Leonardo brought back the conversation, asking Martin, “Weren’t you supposed to go to a mental health center to experience life? When are you going? Still heading to New York?”
“Not going to New York.” Martin replied, “My psychologist Laura helped contact a mental health center in California that has admitted many patients with mental illnesses. I’m going to check it out.”
Leonardo had similar experiences, and said to Nicholson, “Jack, we should visit Martin often, invite him out for gatherings, lest this pervert really turns into a psycho.”
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Nicholson raised his glass, clinked with Martin, and said, “Here’s to you losing your mind soon.”
