Chapter 61

After his trip to Taiwan and his stay in Japan, Li Xu returned to San Francisco in late July. After settling down with the gains from this trip, he began to focus on his own affairs.

For instance, the establishment of Imagination Holdings, under the operation of the team his father had brought in, had already started running, and various procedures and equity transfers were almost completed.

Although he had communicated with these people over the phone and reviewed their materials, and had even met a few of them in person before, they were all familiar faces who had served his father. However, since it was his own company, he definitely needed to visit and get to know it better.

Being a hands-off boss was fine, but it didn't mean losing control of the company. He needed to review the reports and sign the necessary documents; these were basic qualities of a boss.

At the same time, he could prepare for the oil market. If there were no surprises, the Iran-Iraq War was about to start, which would be a good opportunity for speculators to make money.

However, Li Xu didn't plan to make much, and he was even prepared for a loss. It was simple: oil futures were profitable, but his scale was still too small. Unless he brought his father into the game, he wouldn't have much confidence. Even the top analysts on Wall Street could sense that Iran and Iraq were about to go to war, but they wouldn't have predicted that the war would last for eight years. In his previous life, he hadn't read many articles related to this, making it difficult to judge each fluctuation. If he encountered a pitfall, leading to significant losses, it would be a major issue, not just a matter of reputation.

So, it was better to use this as a practice. As mentioned before, without his background and memories from his previous life, Li Xu was at best an ordinary trader. He had no interest or ability to become a big player like Paulson, but it was necessary to find opportunities to hone his financial acumen.

In this case, he couldn't invest too much money; a couple of million would suffice.

Additionally, he had received the acceptance letter from Harvard, and there was no doubt that he would report in September.

Scott Fujita also received his acceptance letter. His AP scores were excellent, and he had done a lot of work in the student council under Adam Pritzker. With Li Xu's help, applying to Harvard wasn't too difficult.

"Come on, let's celebrate. In a little over a month, we'll be separated, which is really sad," Li Xu said, raising his glass to Adam and Scott in the noisy hall.

"Just you and me, Scott is going to Harvard with you," Adam rolled his eyes. "Damn, I'm starting to want to go to the East Coast for college."

But he quickly added, "I know you won't stay in school, so whenever you come to San Francisco, if you stay for more than a week, you must come to Stanford to see me. After all, your holding company is in the Transamerica Pyramid."

"No problem," Li Xu immediately raised his glass again and slightly shook his head at Scott, who looked inquiringly.

Actually, he had set up his investment company in Los Angeles. San Francisco was his father's and grandfather's territory. His Imagination Holdings and his father's Hayes Holdings were only two floors apart, and seeing each other every day wasn't good for a child's growth.

Of course, he couldn't move now. He didn't have many roots in Los Angeles, and his development still relied on his father's support, so he had to stay in San Francisco for a while.

He had only told Scott about this, planning to tell Adam at an appropriate time, like now, but the guy was nagging about having to come back to San Francisco to see him, which was quite awkward.

"Be careful, Adam, you're only a few days away from turning 18," Scott reminded him after Adam downed his drink, skillfully changing the subject.

"It'll be fine," Adam waved his hand, looking very confident.

"Even if you don't care, you should consider the party host," Li Xu immediately pointed to Harrison Ford, who was greeting others from a distance.

"Alright, I'll get a juice from the bartender," Adam scratched his head.

Although the law prohibiting minors from drinking was often ignored, it was only because no one took it seriously. If it were enforced, it would be easy to catch violators. Drinking at your own party was one thing, but drinking at a famous Hollywood star's party and getting exposed would have a significant impact.

After a few more words, Li Xu left to greet the party host.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" started shooting on June 23rd. Over a month, the crew had been running back and forth between studios in the UK and Tunisia. The progress wasn't slow, but it wasn't fast either, especially with the lead actor getting injured frequently.

"Nothing I could do, my dysentery wasn't fully recovered, and I didn't have much strength for the action scenes. So I told Steven, 'Hey, let's change the scene.' He said, 'Okay.' So in the end, the warrior played with his sword for a while, and I shot him dead," Harrison Ford was telling a funny story to two middle-aged men.

"Just hearing it is amusing. If we see it in the movie with the context, it will be even better," Li Xu interjected, having overheard the conversation.

"Eddie? What brings you to chat with us old men?" Ford turned and joked.

"I heard you're going back to the set in a couple of days, so I came to check on the shooting progress," Li Xu shrugged and greeted the two middle-aged men in front of Ford. "Hello, Mr. Diller, Mr. Eisner."

"Hello, Mr. Li," the two middle-aged men smiled and nodded.

"Eddie," Li Xu pointed to himself, then smiled. "I believe your investment will be safe, Paramount will get a great series."

The two men in front of him were Barry Diller, the CEO of Paramount, and his deputy, Michael Eisner. If Jeffrey Katzenberg were also present, the three key figures of Paramount would be complete.

Paramount managed to maintain a good momentum in the early 1980s when other major studios were struggling, largely due to these three. Li Xu had come to Ford's party, even though he was in Los Angeles with Adam and the others, because they were also there.

"I also believe that, many people say that Mr. Li, though young, has a keen eye for investment," Barry Diller smiled warmly and pointed to himself. "Barry."

Barry Diller, who was later called the last Hollywood mogul by the media, always appeared as a good-natured person in public and was very good at socializing, making many people enjoy dealing with him.

Of course, that was relative to the big players. Underestimating him would only lead to trouble.

"Michael or Mike," Michael Eisner was more direct. "If there are similar projects, Eddie can continue to work with us."

"Oh, of course," Li Xu smiled. "I've talked to Mr. Paul Goldberg, and he's interested in selling some of his Paramount shares. I've just set up my own holding company, so if Barry can give me a seat on the board, that would be great."

Diller and Eisner exchanged glances. They had only intended to build a relationship with Li Xu. It wasn't difficult to understand his background, especially since they were all on the West Coast.

Moreover, they had seen Li Xu before, but only from a distance, not like now, where they were introduced to each other. They didn't expect to hear such news.

"Are you planning to get involved in Hollywood, Eddie?" Ford asked in surprise.

The timing was perfect, and it fit his identity well, avoiding any awkwardness. Being able to navigate Hollywood smoothly for decades, Ford was indeed good at socializing.

"I love movies, Harrison," Li Xu spread his hands. "Just like I love video games. If I didn't love movies, I wouldn't have invested in George."

"But I heard George asked you to make a 'Star Wars' game, and you refused," Ford said.

"Actually, I would love to make a 'Star Wars' game, and I even want to make a 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' game," Li Xu said seriously. "But the current game consoles can't meet my requirements."

"Oh?" Ford was genuinely surprised. "What kind of game console performance do you need?"

"At least it should support motion capture and be able to display your face on a TV screen with 99% accuracy. Of course, the TV screen needs to be much larger, at least ten times the current size, to perfectly showcase the game's scenes," Li Xu said with a mysterious tone.

Harrison Ford, Barry Diller, and Michael Eisner all looked puzzled, with expressions of "Are you kidding me?" or "I don't understand, but it sounds impressive."

"Alright, to be honest, my idea won't be feasible for at least 20 years, so..." Li Xu sighed. "Harrison, can you convince George to sell me the 30-year game rights to 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'?"

"Um... I'll try," Ford scratched his head.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Li Xu said earnestly.

This was indeed his idea. As one of the three pillars of the adventure archaeology genre, Dr. Jones was the only one who hadn't been featured in a game—well, maybe he had, but not in a 3D game that rivaled movies. Compared to Lara Croft and Nathan Drake, the pioneer of adventure archaeology, Dr. Jones seemed a bit lacking. Li Xu thought that perhaps in 30 years, he could make such a game if Lucas were willing to sell the rights.

However, the possibility was low. The establishment of Activision marked Atari's official opening to third-party developers, and game development companies and studios were sprouting up like mushrooms after rain.

In the absence of creativity, movie adaptations became a hot trend. After all, IP adaptations weren't unfamiliar.

Well, perhaps he could buy the 3D game rights. Li Xu thought to himself.