hunt hollywood

Chapter 378 Forget It (Repair)

Probably aware that the Westeros Corporation was no longer in close contact with the Reynolds Nabisco Group, the Hearst family delayed until October 10 before responding to Simon's conditions.

William Hearst III did not plan to share the news resources of the "San Francisco Chronicle", but said that Hearst Group's "Los Angeles Herald" on the west coast can cooperate with Eaglet in all aspects of content.

The "Los Angeles Herald" sounds like a very serious newspaper, but in fact it is similar to the "New York Post" owned by News Corporation, mainly reporting social news and entertainment gossip.

In terms of news, Eaglet Portal is positioned as a comprehensive information platform, because at this stage it is mainly aimed at the wealthy middle-class elite, so it pursues the professionalism and seriousness of the news content.

Although there will be entertainment news, Simon has no intention of turning Ygritte's portal into an entertainment gossip portal.

Most importantly, William Hearst III took out the "Los Angeles Herald" to cooperate with Eaglet, but the fundamental reason was to 'renew the life' of this newspaper, because the Hearst Group had originally planned to keep this continuous A newspaper with poor performance for many years has been shut down. Now, if it can obtain financial support through cooperation with Eaglet, this newspaper can undoubtedly continue to exist.

It can be said that Hearst III did not have any sincerity at all.

Simon then took a step back and told Hearst III through Raybould that the Eaglet Portal only needs to obtain the content sharing of the domestic news section of the "San Francisco Chronicle", other international news, local news, entertainment news and sports news, etc. , Ygritte does not need it.

The result is still rejected.

On the other hand, after more than a month of negotiations, AOL finally reached an exclusive agreement with Bell Atlantic, Bell Pacific and NYNEX, three regional telecom operators.

The negotiation of the agreement can be said to have gone through ups and downs. During the period, a single user's buyout offer of $1.5 fell into a stalemate.

The three operators jointly insisted that AOL must provide an exclusive fee of $1.5 for each user of the three networks, which was 1% higher than the $50 quote expected by the AOL team.

When the three operators thought they had completely grasped America Online and the Westeros company behind the company, Steve Case unexpectedly broke the situation with a strategy of differentiation, claiming that if the three operators insisted on the $1.5 buyout offer , America Online could not afford to support the cost, and could only choose two of the three companies.

You only need to open up your own line network. With the size of AOL at this time, you can get a total of tens of millions of dollars without consuming any cost. In addition, with the development of AOL in a few years, the agreed price is still It can be re-negotiated that the three operators are actually not so indifferent to this business.

After the split in 1984, it was impossible for the Bell System to be single-minded. After confirming that Steve Case was not making false threats, the three companies finally made concessions.

Therefore, the final transaction price is confirmed as $1.3.

The three operators, Bell Pacific, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, including home users and business users, have a total user scale of 2361 million, and the total exclusivity fee that needs to be paid initially is 3069 million per year.

In addition, the duration of the exclusive agreement is 10 years, which is only half of the originally expected contract period. The two parties to the agreement renegotiate the exclusive fee price every two years, and each quotation shall not increase by more than 50%.

After the signing of the agreement, AOL will be able to directly use the line networks of the three operators to carry out its own Internet access services.However, the three operators will not provide AOL with additional equipment and technical support beyond the existing line network.If AOL has related needs, it needs to pay the fee separately.

Although the terms on the surface of this contract are very biased towards the three operators, as long as this exclusive agreement can be signed, it is a victory for Simon.

The number of users of America Online has continued to grow rapidly in recent months. However, the three operators obviously still do not realize the huge potential of the Internet industry.

This kind of thing is completely unimaginable for a latecomer like Simon, but just like HP did not realize the importance of the personal computer invented by an employee named Steve Wozniak , followed by the printer giant Xerox also made the same mistake. The first computer graphics interface operating system was only exchanged for a "very convenient" evaluation from the company president, and then it was copied to two companies. One is called Apple and the other is called Microsoft.

After all, no one else in the world can see the future with such clarity except Simon.

Based on the user scale of the three operators at this time, even after five re-negotiations, the price increase has reached 50%, and the exclusive fee paid by AOL in the end is less than 2 million U.S. dollars per year.But if these more than 2000 million users are fully eaten, America Online can earn billions of dollars in revenue every year just relying on Internet access services.

What's more, within 10 years, as long as the regulation of the US telecommunications industry can be reopened as in the original time and space, Simon is confident enough that the current vine-like AOL will swallow the few big trees it is attached to at this time.

Simon has been discussing acquisition plans for the two companies with the company team in recent days.

Because there is no need to rush, I still live in the manor in Greenwich with Janet every day.

In a blink of an eye, it was Friday, October 10th.

Simon had just arrived at the headquarters of Westeros Corporation in Manhattan in the morning, and James Raybould took a copy of the newspaper and followed him to the office, saying, "Simon, take a look at this."

Simon sat down behind the desk, took the copy of the newspaper page, and couldn't help frowning just after glancing at the headline.

On the copy was an article titled "Beware of the Potential Monopoly of Emerging Internet Telecoms." The target of the comment happened to be the exclusive agreement that AOL had just signed with the three major operators.

As for the content, it is obvious just by looking at the title.

However, this is not the most important thing. The key point is that this article comes from the "San Francisco Chronicle".

After roughly scanning the article, Simon shook his head and said, "The Hearst family doesn't want to pay at all."

America Online is still just a company with less than 50 users, not to mention AT&T, even any of the Seven Little Bells, is definitely a giant in front of America Online at this time.

Moreover, similar exclusive agreements are not actually created by AOL. Many companies that operate telecommunications peripheral services will sign exclusive agreements with these giants in order to maintain their own market advantages.Internet access services are still part of the telecommunications peripheral industry at the moment.

However, the "San Francisco Chronicle" directly labeled AOL as a suspected monopoly.

The influence of the ATT spin-off case has not completely dissipated, and telecom monopoly is still a relatively sensitive topic, and most companies do not want to touch such a bad head.

Therefore, the purpose of the Hearst family to do so is obvious.

Maybe he noticed Simon’s active avoidance in the acquisition of ESPN shares, and rejected the cooperation between the two parties in the content sharing of the "San Francisco Chronicle". He gave Simon a warning to withdraw voluntarily.

James also showed a wry smile on his face, and asked, "What should we do now?"

Simon dropped a copy of the newspaper on the desk in front of him and said, "Call Reynolds Nabisco and we're out."

James was a little surprised: "Hit now?"

Simon nodded, and said in a flat tone: "Let's fight, there's no need to delay, since the Hearst family doesn't want to cooperate with us at all, then forget it."

In fact, James didn't want to conflict with the Hearst family. He was worried that Simon would be young and energetic. Seeing him give up so calmly, James felt a little bit dissatisfied with the Hearst family.

However, James also understands that starting today, the Hearst family has been completely blacklisted by their boss.

However, the Hearst family is not Daenerys Entertainment's counterparts in Hollywood. Such an old family with a century of accumulation and a huge paper media network is destined to be dare not be provoked by many people.

After James left, Simon began to calmly prepare for the morning meeting.

According to the latest news, this week, Panasonic President Akio Furui had a phone call with MCA Chairman Lou Vasalman. Perhaps, Panasonic’s acquisition of MCA will undergo changes beyond Simon’s expectations.

Once this is the case, Daenerys Entertainment must act in advance.

Combining the information in his memory and the current situation, Simon feels that the reason why Panasonic's acquisition of MCA by the original space-time Panasonic has been delayed for several months after it was officially announced is probably mainly due to the lack of competitors. Since there is no competition, Panasonic can naturally grind with MCA slowly.

Now, Daenerys Entertainment is watching. Although Panasonic is not so determined to win this acquisition due to the domestic economic situation in Japan, it should still hope to buy MCA, so it will not continue to delay for too long. .

All aspects of work on MCA have been completed ahead of schedule, and the morning meeting was still about the plan to acquire Bell Atlantic.

For more than two months, affected by the Kuwait war, oil prices continued to rise, and the US stock market still fell.

The latest market value of Bell Atlantic has slipped to the edge of 50 billion US dollars, leaving only 50.3 billion US dollars at the close of trading yesterday, which has continued to fall by more than 10% compared with the beginning of the war.

Now is undoubtedly the best time to act.

Relying on its own sufficient assets as collateral, the team of Westeros Corporation has already solved the problem of the source of funds. Several banks that have been secretly contacted have accumulated a total amount of funds willing to provide Westeros Corporation with 100 billion U.S. dollars.

Such a large-scale loan application must not be concealed in the circle.

Therefore, the bank has more than once tested whether Simon intends to rely entirely on loans to acquire the company, and keep the huge sum of money overseas.

This guess is actually very reasonable.

When overseas assets are transferred back to China, a huge asset gains tax of 28% is required to be paid in one lump sum.In contrast, obtaining funds through loans has an annual interest rate of only about 5%.If overseas funds can be operated properly, even if it generates an annual return of 10%, it is very cost-effective to do so.

Simon has actually considered this option.

Only to give up in the end.

On the one hand, in the next few years, except for North America, no market can carry billions of dollars of investment that can bring enough benefits for Simon.

On the other hand, this fund, to be precise, is the tax when the fund is transferred back to the country, which can also be regarded as a bargaining chip, a bargaining chip that can push the federal government to approve the Simon acquisition plan.

After all, the one-off capital gains tax of $20 billion is definitely not a small amount that can be ignored for the federal government with a serious fiscal deficit.If the federal government does not agree to Simon's acquisition of MCA and Bell Atlantic at the same time, Simon will definitely continue to keep the funds overseas, which is certainly not what the federal government wants to see.

"We have bought 2.7% of Bell Atlantic's shares so far, and we will be able to achieve 4.9% of the shares before the end of the month. However, on the Bell Atlantic side, the main problem we face is actually the management. If we can get the chairman of Bell Atlantic With the cooperation of Bell Atlantic and CEO Raymond Smith, and with the support of sufficient funds, this acquisition should go very smoothly. I don't think that with the current economic environment and the nature of Bell Atlantic itself, other competitors will jump. Come out and compete with us for this company."

Having dinner with James at noon, Simon nodded after hearing what he said: "Wait until the end of the month. If the time is right, I will meet with Raymond Smith in person."

James said: "Raymond Smith is very interested in literature and drama, the two of you will definitely be able to chat."

Simon has also seen the personal information of Raymond Smith collected by the company, and said: "It's not enough just because of the same topic, if he agrees to the acquisition of Bell Atlantic by Westeros, I will also consider the acquisition." Do you want to keep him after finishing?"

James affirmed: "Raymond Smith's ability is beyond doubt. However, if you don't expect the two of you to reach a cooperation because of similar topics, we still have to spend a lot of trouble on our own."

Simon said with a smile: "Big business with billions of dollars, if everything goes too well, I will wonder if I have fallen into some trap."

The two chatted about these things, and after lunch, Simon rushed to the East Coast headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment in Greenwich Village according to the schedule. He would not be in Los Angeles for a week, and Hollywood had accumulated a lot of things that needed him to deal with.

From arriving at one o'clock in the afternoon until nearly four o'clock, he was busy for three hours, and roughly finished the accumulated work of the week. Simon leaned on the leather chair in the office and picked up a plan for the Antarctic documentary film that is expected to be produced by Gaomen Films. Look through the draft.

It was sparked after Janet made a promise to little Gemma during a lunch at Sofia's house last week.

Janet originally only planned to take some people who went to Antarctica to take some videos of the little girl and bring them back. However, Simon remembered "The Emperor Penguin Diaries", which created a documentary box office record in his memory, and produced a serious Antarctic documentary. plan.

However, Simon didn't know much about Antarctica, so he planned to test the waters with an ordinary documentary first, train the team, and then come up with the filming plan of "Diary of the Emperor Penguin" in his memory.

It's autumn in the northern hemisphere, but it's spring in the southern hemisphere.

The preparations are starting now, just in time to be stationed in Antarctica in the southern hemisphere summer, and the shooting will end in autumn.

Flipping through the plan in his hand, Simon suddenly thought of Sophia again.

Sofia has been in Manhattan recently preparing for the Gucci brand event tomorrow Saturday, and her work today has been completed.

After hesitating for a moment, Simon dialed the number of the woman's mobile phone.

After chatting casually, it seemed that it wasn't that busy there, so Simon asked Sofia if he would like to have coffee together, and the woman reminded him that he had quit coffee for a long time.

Then it was a little embarrassing.

Then, Simon put up the airs of the boss and asked Sophia to wait for him in his penthouse on Lexington Avenue, and he had something to discuss.

What is Sophia asking?

The look of looking for the bottom line.

This, of course, we will talk about it when we arrive, can't the boss find something for the employees to do?

Chapter 379 Unexpected News (Revised)

As night fell, the lights were not turned on in the bedroom of a penthouse on Lexington Avenue.

The faint city light shines through the window on the scattered big bed in the bedroom. Under the dim light, there seems to be a faint misty atmosphere in the air, but there is no one on the bed.

In the corner by the window, a woman wrapped in a bath towel was curled up softly on the single sofa, half of her rosy face was covered by her fluffy and wet hair, her head was tilted, and one hand was still on her lips. She didn't dare to look at the man who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet and helping her to rub her calves.

Obviously it was his fault.

At some point, she felt like she was going to be killed.

However, he tried his best to cover up the fact that he couldn't bear the cramp in his calf, but he still had the urge to run away when he found out just before taking a bath.

After a while, his eyes glanced carefully again.

The man lowered his head, looking very serious and patient, so he tapped his toe lightly on his knee, implying that he was fine.

Simon looked up and asked softly, "Do you want to rub the other side too?"

No!

I shouted in my heart, still avoiding his eyes, and said softly: "Left leg, it's okay, you, it's time to go back to Greenwich."

Simon nodded and said, "I'll send some food over first."

The woman was stunned.

and then.

Then it's time to go.

Although he didn't want to and didn't dare to argue with Janet, it was the first time he had a good time with this man just now, even if he pushed back a few times, it would be good to pretend to deceive himself.

Immediately there was some self-pity.

Withdrew the calf from his hand, and shrank the whole body into the sofa.

Seeing Sophia's appearance, Simon stretched out his hand. The woman felt his touch, hid, and turned her back to him.

But that hand didn't give up. It reached under her body with a little force, and Sophia's whole body was dragged down, and she fell on the carpet softly, and the towel couldn't help but spread out.

Jade body horizontal Chen.

He twisted his body and wanted to stay away from Simon, but he couldn't resist the big hand that the man caught lightly.

I had no choice but to look over with aggrieved eyes, feeling my eyes were wet, trying not to shed tears.

Seeing that the woman was no longer trying to escape, Simon stroked her face and said softly, "I don't have much to give you. I will give you what I should give."

Knowing that he only said half of what he said.

If you can't give it, it's useless to fight and grab it.

Xiao Xiaodi confronted him for a while, knowing that the man was still waiting for her response, and finally hummed obediently.