Chapter 378 Forbes Rich List, Link's Latest Net Worth
Two weeks after The Hollywood Reporter released its movie box office list, Forbes Magazine released its 1996 'World Billionaires List', 'American 400 Rich List', 'Hollywood Celebrity Income List' and other lists.
In the latest Forbes Global Rich List, Link's ranking has changed significantly compared to last year.
According to Forbes, his assets consist of three parts: Flash Gold Capital, Guess the Movies, and personal income.
BlinkGold Capital was established more than three years ago. In recent years, its investment projects mainly include the Internet, entertainment, real estate, and clothing.
Its shares include shares of listed companies and unlisted companies.
The listed companies mainly hold 4.05% of Microsoft shares, 2.85% of Cisco shares, 2.23% of Berkshire Hathaway, 3.2% of Disney, 5.12% of Netscape, and 12% of Apple shares.
There are 16 unlisted companies, including 15.2% of Guess Pictures, 18% of LTD Clothing Company (Victoria's Secret parent company), 95% of Marvel Entertainment shares, 15% of UTA Agency, 3.5% of CAA Agency shares, etc.
Forbes values Flash Capital at $6.6 billion, and Link owns 74.5% of the shares.
Among them, Microsoft shares are worth approximately US$2.5 billion.
Last year, Microsoft released a new generation of operating system Windows 95.
In the following year, Microsoft's stock price increased from US$22 to US$68, and its market value quickly increased from more than US$30 billion to over US$60 billion, fluctuating between US$50 billion and US$80 billion.
In February 1996, Microsoft's market value was $62 billion, and Flash Capital owned 4.05% of Microsoft shares, worth approximately $2.51 billion.
Cisco shares ranked second.
The current market value of Cisco Systems, Inc. is $32.5 billion, an increase of approximately 80% over the same period last year.
FlashGold Capital's 2.85% stake in Cisco was worth approximately $920 million in February.
Ranked third is Berkshire Hathaway, which was founded by "stock god" Warren Buffett in 1956 and listed in 1988.
Last year, the company bought large amounts of shares in companies such as Coca-Cola, American Express, and Disney, and the share price increased from US$280 million per share to US$320 million per share.
Flash Capital owns approximately 150 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway, worth approximately $480 million.
Ranked fourth is Disney. Last year, affected by the Guess What Pictures, Disney’s market value fell from 13.5 billion to around 10 billion.
According to Forbes magazine, Disney's market value was US$10.6 billion in February this year.
The 3.2% Disney shares held by Flash Capital are worth approximately US$340 million.
Ranked fifth is Netscape.
Netscape went public on August 9, 1995, with an issue price of $28 per share. The closing price on the first day was $58.25 per share, with a market value of approximately $2.2 billion.
After Netscape went public, its stock price soared rapidly. At the end of last year, its market value exceeded US$5 billion, and at the beginning of this year, its market value exceeded US$6 billion. It is considered the "first Internet stock."
Last year, FlashGold Capital owned 15% of Netscape shares. Starting from December last year, FlashGold Capital gradually sold 10% and earned about US$1 billion in cash.
As of February, Netscape's market value was approximately $6.2 billion, and the remaining 5% of Netscape shares were worth approximately $320 million.
Ranked sixth is Apple.
Apple is currently facing a serious crisis.
Last year, Apple's Macintosh Performa series of computers had sluggish sales, its Newton PDA handheld computer received poor market response, its operating system (System 7) lagged behind Microsoft Windows 95, and its PC market share plummeted to 4%.
Apple's financial statements at the end of 1995 showed a loss of $816 million, which also led to a large number of layoffs at Apple, nearly 30%.
In January 1996, Apple's stock price was $5.5 per share, with a market value of $3.2 billion.
FlashGold Capital's 12.1% stake in Apple is worth approximately US$384 million.
As Apple's stock price is falling rapidly, Forbes magazine believes that the value of these shares will also shrink rapidly. In the future, the price of 12.1% of Apple shares will be lower than that of Disney and Netscape shares, so it ranks sixth.
The above are shares of listed companies under Flash Gold Capital, with a total value of approximately US$4.95 billion.
The total value of the private company's shares is approximately US$1.65 billion.
The most valuable of these are shares of LTD Clothing Company.
LTD's brands include The Limited (women's clothing), Express, Bath-Body Works, etc.
In 1995, it invested US$100 million to acquire the lingerie brand Victoria's Secret. At the end of last year, it launched the "Angels" lingerie show marketing campaign, which led to a surge in the brand's influence.
LTD's market value is growing rapidly, with its current share price fluctuating between US$20 and US$30 per share and a market value of approximately US$4.8 billion.
18% LTD shares are worth approximately US$864 million.
In second place is Guess Pictures with a 15.2% stake.
Wall Street currently values the company at $2.8 billion, and a 15.2% stake is worth approximately $425 million.
The remaining Marvel Entertainment, UTA Agency, CAA Agency, etc. are worth approximately US$350 million in total.
The total value of Flash Capital is approximately US$6.6 billion, and Link owns 74.5% of Flash Capital, which is worth approximately US$4.9 billion.
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Link’s second asset is Guess What Pictures.
He personally owns 33.3% of Guess the Movie shares, worth approximately US$930 million.
The third part of the assets is Link’s total income last year, which was approximately US$350 million. This part of the income includes Link’s salary for filming several movies, box office share of movies such as "The Butterfly Effect" and "The Sixth Sense", book copyright share, screenwriter salary, etc.
Forbes magazine does not have specific data and can only give an estimate based on rumors.
To sum up, Link's net worth is 6.2 billion US dollars, ranking 18th on the "Forbes Global Rich List", 3 billion US dollars more than last year, and his ranking on the list has moved up more than 90 places.
But Forbes magazine believes that Link's total assets are more than this figure.
The first is that Link’s income from movies is not transparent enough. The box office revenue sharing agreement he signed with Guess What Pictures has not been made public, and the magazine has not obtained accurate data.
The second is that last year, Flash Capital split up its major shares, making the equity unclear.
Currently, there are three major shareholders of Flash Gold Capital, including Link with 74.5%, Horizon Investment with 21.5%, and Rose Garden Investment Company with approximately 1.8%.
Horizon Investments is registered in the Cayman Islands, and its 21.5% stake was acquired through investment and stock swaps, with a value of more than US$1.5 billion.
At the same time, after Microsoft’s market value exploded last year, FlashGold Capital sold about 0.5% of its shares and received about US$300 million in cash or stocks.
After Netscape's stock price exploded at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, Flash Capital sold 10% of its shares in succession and received approximately US$600 million in cash or stock.
Last year, when Guess What Pictures conducted its second round of financing, Link sold about 20% of his shares and received about US$400 million in shares or stocks.
Including dividends from more than a dozen companies, Link and Flash Capital had a total cash amount of more than US$2.7 billion last year.
In addition to using this money to buy shares in Cisco Systems, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway, $1.5 billion of this money was transferred overseas. Forbes magazine has not yet been able to investigate the whereabouts of this money.
If this amount of funds, as well as the many luxury homes, private jets and yachts owned by Link, is included, Link's net worth far exceeds US$6.2 billion.
On the "400 Richest Americans" list, Link ranked 12th, second only to Bill Gates with $18.5 billion; Warren Buffett with $15 billion; five members of the Walton family, three members of the Rockefeller family, and Paul Allen with $7.2 billion.
On the "Chinese Rich List", Link ranks second with a net worth only behind Li Ka-shing's 6.5 billion.
On the Forbes Celebrity Income List, Link ranked first with $350 million, surpassing all athletes, actors, singers, etc.
In addition, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandler Bullock, Monica Bellucci, Jodie Foster and others are also on the list, with the highest annual income reaching 30 million US dollars and the lowest income exceeding 3 million US dollars.
In addition, the women in the family are all shareholders of Rose Garden Investment Company.
The company was founded in April last year and its current market value is approximately US$120 million. Monica Liu Xiaoli and others hold at least 2% of the company's shares. Each of them is a millionaire and will have at least tens of millions in a few years.
Due to the rapid growth of his net worth, the women in his family visited the set more frequently after his inclusion on the Forbes Rich List.
In the past, they came once in a row for each film, but now they come every few days, and sometimes four or five come at a time. The reason is to help him solve his physiological problems and prevent him from being seduced by other women.
After the Forbes Rich List was released, acquaintances in the circle took turns calling to congratulate him on his doubling of assets. Some asked about his investment methods and any good suggestions; some wanted to hand over their money to Flash Gold Capital for management and make money with him.
In addition to acquaintances in the entertainment industry, there are also people from the media, investment circles, and many politicians, including President Clinton and his wife, who warmly invited him to visit the White House.
Link agreed and said he would go when he had time.
(End of this chapter)
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