hunt hollywood

Putting all this down, I suddenly felt that my emotions just now were a bit inappropriate. I was worried that he thought my answer was not sincere enough, so I took the initiative to stick a note to the man's palm, saying: "I, I brought food over this afternoon, and I'm in the kitchen. Just one click."

Simon picked the woman up and put her on the big bed, lowered his head and kissed her on the lips, and said, "Then wait a minute."

The two had a simple dinner together, and Simon returned to Greenwich.

Sophia has been living in Manhattan for the past few days, and in tonight's state, it is even more impossible to go back to Greenwich to see the children together.

The second day is Saturday.

Simon and Janet attended a Gucci party at the Gramercy Hotel in Manhattan in the evening, and returned to Los Angeles after spending the weekend on the East Coast.

丹妮莉丝娱乐这边，10月份，公司一共有三部影片上映，分别是10月12日简·坎皮恩的《天使与我同桌》、10月19日从戛纳电影节买回的《菊豆》和10月26日万圣节档期的《危情十日》。

Both "Angel and My Tablet" and "Ju Dou" are distributed by Gaomen Films, and they don't have much ambition in the box office. However, Ella Deutschman has already applied for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language for the latter. film award.

The focus is on "Ten Days of Dangerous Love" in cooperation with Universal Pictures.

In the previous summer files, "Sleeping with the Enemy" in cooperation with Fox and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" in cooperation with Disney have achieved very good box office results. " is also full of confidence.

"Ten Days of Dangerous Love" is adapted from the original novel of the famous horror novelist Stephen King, and it is more famous than the first two.The two protagonists, Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon, are also well-known Hollywood stars.

Simon has watched the samples of this version of "Ten Days of Dangerous Love" more than once before, and also participated in the production of the trailer.

Simon prefers the new version to the version starring Kathy Bates.

Also at the actress level, Susan Sarandon's performance is no less than that of Kathy Bates, and, because of her appearance, the obvious sexual tension between the two protagonists adds a bit to the movie Strange contrast and horror meaning.

Simon returned to Los Angeles, and the publicity of "Ten Days of Dangerous Love" has entered the final stage of intensive trailer release.

As one of Daenerys Entertainment's 10 film projects, since the two previously released films have achieved high box office and attention, this new film has naturally attracted a lot of media attention, indirectly contributing to Universal's distribution. The movie industry saved millions of dollars in marketing expenses.

In addition, the announcement and release of a series of films scheduled for the end of the year has already begun.

Daenerys Entertainment will release four films in the Thanksgiving and Christmas periods at the end of the year.

分别是11月2日凯文·科斯特纳的《与狼共舞》，11月23日与哥伦比亚影业合作的《红粉联盟》，12月7日罗伯特·奥特曼的《人生交叉点》和12月21日的《小鬼当家》。

Speaking of which, "Dances with Wolves", which has gained a good internal reputation after several trial screenings, will become the focus of Daenerys Entertainment's Oscar public relations this year. It stands to reason that the film's schedule is more appropriate in December.

However, Simon also has box office ambitions for this movie. The "Dances with Wolves" in memory is also a blockbuster film with a box office of more than 1.8 million US dollars in North America. Therefore, in order to avoid conflict with "Home Alone", Simon still Put the film in November.

As for the "Intersection of Life" in December, this film will of course pursue Oscar nominations. However, as we all know, Robert Altman's works have never been favored by the Oscar judges. He has already won the Golden Lion Award in Venice. Even if it is successful and famous, the goal of this movie is only to accumulate long-term box office through the popularity of the awards season, and it has no expectations for the awards.

Two commercial films, "Alliance" released by Columbia Pictures and "Home Alone" produced by Daenerys Entertainment, occupy two major schedules respectively, and the announcement and release work is progressing step by step.

October 10th, Thursday.

The time has entered mid-October, and the filming of "Batman: The Dark Knight" in Australia has entered the final finishing stage, and it will be completed next week. Simon plans to fly to Melbourne next week, and study the filming samples with several main creators to determine whether Retakes are required.

At around five o'clock in the afternoon, Simon, who usually doesn't get off work on time, was discussing the film's post-production plan with the main creator of "The Silence of the Lambs" at the post-production center of the studio. The female assistant appeared and whispered a few words in Simon's ear.

After hearing what Jennifer had said, Simon thought for a while and said, "Forget about the reception or something. Let's go tomorrow morning. I'll go to Burbank."

Janet just told Simon that Lou Wassalman finally couldn't bear it anymore, and took the initiative to invite Simon to a reception tonight, and by the way, talk about the MCA acquisition that is well known in Hollywood.

Busy for days, Simon only planned to go home after get off work. He didn't want to become the kind of social creature who attended two hundred parties every year, so he chose to refuse.

After hearing what Simon said, the female assistant turned and left.

After Simon and "The Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme finished their discussion, the female assistant reappeared and re-arranged the meeting time for tomorrow.

The next day, Simon rushed to Daenerys Studios first, changed into an inconspicuous ordinary car, and rushed to Burbank in a low-key manner.

Lou Wasserman was waiting for him in an office building in the northwest corner of Universal Studios.

The two met, exchanged a few simple greetings, and Vassarman got to the point: "Simon, everyone now knows that you are interested in Universal. A friend of mine at Citibank told me that you have signed a 20-year contract with them. $[-] million loan intent agreement. So, I don’t understand what are you waiting for?”

Under normal circumstances, the seller actively asks the buyer for a sale. This is definitely not a wise behavior, which is equivalent to handing over the initiative to the other party.

However, Simon was too calm this time, dragging Vassalman abruptly until he lost his patience.

The 77-year-old man should be the one who is not lacking in patience, but seeing MCA's stock price which has not been too high because of Daenerys Entertainment's delay in making a statement, and the urging of Panasonic, he has to take the initiative .

What Simon was waiting for, of course, was the preparations for the acquisition of Bell Atlantic by New York.

Because of the official announcement of Panasonic's acquisition of MCA and news of Daenerys Entertainment's intention to participate in the bidding, the recent stock price of MCA has been close to 60 US dollars.

Now that the news is public, Simon believes that the company's stock price will definitely go straight to 70 US dollars. Once the market price of MCA stock exceeds Simon's quotation limit, it will become a very troublesome problem, and it will be very difficult to lower it down.

At that time, it is unlikely that MCA will accept Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition offer which is lower than the market price.

In contrast, if two acquisitions can be launched at the same time, and a gesture of giving up one of them may be made, the market performance will no longer be so frenzied.

At this time, in front of Lou Wassalman, of course Simon would not tell the truth, but he also said frankly: "Lu, I am not sure whether I should participate in the MCA bidding, you know, Danielle The development of Daenerys Entertainment is very good, and I think Daenerys Entertainment will become strong enough even if it does not merge with another Hollywood studio, just need to be patient for a few years."

In fact, MCA’s revenue in the last fiscal year was US$33 billion, with a net profit of US$2.96 million. This year, due to the poor box office performance of “Back to the Future 3” in the summer, the revenue and profit performance will be even worse.In comparison, not to mention the expected net profit of more than US$10 billion, just in terms of revenue, Daenerys Entertainment can surpass MCA this year.

The gap between the two sides is basically just a background.

Speaking carefully, there is indeed no problem with Simon's excuse. Daenerys Entertainment has been patiently operating for a few years, and it will definitely be able to completely equalize or even overtake the top seven.

But, it still takes time.

Even, the Universal Studios and record companies owned by MCA are not just accumulated over time.

The history of Universal Studios is almost as long as that of Hollywood. If Daenerys Entertainment invests in the construction of a studio project now, although there is no problem in terms of funds, the company also has enough IP resources to support a studio park. City, simply cannot reach the deep-rooted and accumulated influence of Universal Studios and Disneyland.

The same goes for record labels.

Apart from other things, Universal Music's huge music copyright library cannot be achieved simply by short-term accumulation.

What's more, MCA can also form a strong complement to Daenerys Entertainment in terms of distribution channels, movie theaters, and film libraries. Simon absolutely needs to buy this company.

Lou Wassalman has been in Hollywood for more than half a century, and of course he can see this, saying: "Simon, I had a communication with Akio Furui from Panasonic last week, if you really don't plan to get involved, Next week at the latest, MCA will submit Panasonic's offer to the board of directors for review and further shareholder voting. I know that many corporate bidders will participate on the eve of shareholder voting by others, just like Paramount last year, In this way, you can control the opponent's cards and chips to the greatest extent, but I think this is completely unnecessary for you."

Simon thought about it.

Before the meeting, Simon worried that MCA and Panasonic could reach a preliminary agreement this week and launch a shareholder vote quickly.

Now, according to Vassalman, MCA will conduct a board discussion on Panasonic’s acquisition proposal next week, and further shareholder votes will take at least another week. Before you know it, it is already the end of October, which coincides with Simon’s planned schedule. .

That being the case, Simon was completely relieved.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, Simon said: "Well, Lu, I am indeed interested in MCA, but I don't plan to engage in an unrestrained bidding war with Panasonic. If you agree, I hope that Daenerys Entertainment and MCA signed a secret agreement of intent that Daenerys Entertainment would not pay an exit fee should the takeover fall through."

In the case of corporate mergers and acquisitions under normal circumstances, considering the impact of the acquisition on the operation and stock price of the target company, the party initiating the acquisition usually promises to pay an exit fee after the acquisition fails, and the ratio is usually between 1% and 5% of the market value of the target company. between.

This means that, according to the $66 billion transaction quotation of the original space-time MCA, once it wants to launch, the acquirer needs to pay an exit fee between $6600 million and $3.3 million.

However, nothing is absolute.

This fee can also be waived as long as the two parties communicate properly.

When Warren Buffett and Tom Murphy's Metropolis acquired the ABC TV network, Buffett, who was in charge of the acquisition, proposed that if the acquisition failed, Metropolis would not pay a huge exit fee. The then executive of the ABC TV network I agreed.

Of course, that acquisition ended up being a success.

Lou Wassalman had a hesitant expression when he heard Simon's request.

He could understand that Simon made this request mainly to suppress the market's excessive pursuit of MCA stocks.Knowing that Daenerys Entertainment can exit at will without paying any price, investors will be more cautious in the process of buying MCA stock.

However, this is very risky for MCA.

In the case of two companies bidding for a company, one party does not compete with the other party in terms of quotation, and there is no need to pay fees when withdrawing.Furthermore, the winning party in the bidding process between the two parties needs to pay the exit fee only when the acquisition cannot be completed in the later stage of negotiation or under the influence of policy regulation.

If you agree to Simon's conditions at this time, once Daenerys Entertainment squeezes out Panasonic, but then abandons the acquisition for some reason, without paying any price, then MCA will be crying without tears.

You must know that once the acquisition fails completely, the first thing that will happen is that MCA’s stock price will plummet and return to the level before the acquisition. At that time, countless shareholders who have suffered heavy book losses will definitely put pressure on the management.

On the other hand, after experiencing a toss of acquisition, the operation of the enterprise itself will also be seriously affected.

Just like MGM, if the 80s were not repeatedly sold, but patiently managed, this old studio would not be as half-dead as it is now.

Chapter 380 Withdrawal Fee (Revised)

After hesitating for a moment, Lou Wassalman said: "Simon, it is impossible to completely waive the exit fee, and the board of directors will not agree, but we can discuss the specific amount carefully."

Simon didn't intend to waste too much time on this matter, and said, "Then it's $5000 million, a fixed number."

5000 million US dollars is a huge sum of money that is out of reach for most ordinary people, but for Simon now, this money is nothing.

The exit fee negotiated between MCA and Panasonic is 2.5% of the final transaction value of the two parties. If calculated based on MCA’s recent market value of nearly US$60 billion, once Panasonic abandons the acquisition, it will need to pay an exit fee of US$1.5 million, which is roughly equivalent to MCA’s half-year net profit.

Vassalman originally considered that Daenerys Entertainment's exit fee could be set at 1% to 2%, which is already a big concession. After hearing that Simon was only willing to give a fixed fee of 5000 million US dollars, he shook his head and said : "Simon, that number is too low."

Simon insisted: "You want me to get involved in this matter as soon as possible, Lu, this is the price that must be paid."

Wassalman thought about it again, and said, "Then, things must be made public in advance."

Simon shook his head: "No, after signing the agreement of intent, Daenerys Entertainment will start a feasibility study on the acquisition of MCA, and will not really start the acquisition immediately."

The corner of Vassalman's mouth twitched. Feasibility investigation, who would believe that Daenerys Entertainment has not even completed this pre-work?

However, everyone understood that this was just an excuse, and Vassarman did not refute it.

The two continued to haggle for a moment, and Simon reluctantly raised the exit fee to $6000 million, roughly 1% of MCA's current market value.Daenerys Entertainment will sign an agreement of intent with MCA within a week to investigate and evaluate the feasibility of acquiring MCA. MCA needs to cooperate and actively provide necessary internal assets and financial data.

At the same time, although this matter needs to be kept secret from the outside world, MCA can inform Panasonic of the news that Daenerys Entertainment officially participated in this bidding.

After personally sending Simon away, Vassalman returned to the office just now. MCA President Sid Schinberger had already appeared. Seeing Vassalman nodding, Schinberger knew that Simon had confirmed his entry and asked, "Lu, you and Has Westeros discussed corporate stewardship?"

Lou Wassalman finally expressed his intention to retire after suffering a serious illness three years ago, which is why he will agree to sell the company he has controlled for decades.

However, things like power have always been the deeper the immersion, the harder it is to let go.

After a few years, Vasalman's idea of ​​retiring gradually faded because his physical condition improved again.Among the acquisition conditions discussed by Panasonic and MCA, the continuation of the existing management's control over the company is a very important one.

Compared with Lou Wassalman, who is 77 years old this year, Sid Schinberg, who is only 55 years old and in his prime, does not want to give up his power.

Lou Wassalman shook his head, sat down behind his desk slowly, and said, "A friend of mine in Washington called me yesterday morning, saying that it was Ovitz who was contacting people, trying to stop Daenerys Silk Entertainment’s takeover of MCA. I asked Ovitz personally this morning and he admitted.”

Ronald Reagan was a signed artist under MCA in his early years, so Vassalman actually has good connections in the political world.

Sid Schinberg was a little surprised by the news, and forgot the question just now, subconsciously said: "We can't let Ovitz destroy this acquisition."

"Of course," Wasserman motioned to Sinberg to sit down opposite him, and said, "I've already warned him. However, if I had to choose between Panasonic and Daenerys, I would still prefer to sell MCA." To Panasonic, do you understand why?"

Sid Simberg pulled a chair and sat across from Vassarman, and nodded quickly after thinking about it: "If the company is acquired by Daenerys Entertainment, it is very likely that Westeros will not continue to let us run it. MCA."

"It's not very likely, it's definitely not," Vassarman said: "Once Westeros gets the MCA, he will definitely integrate Daenerys with the MCA. Many of our company's businesses happen to be related to Dany Liz complements each other. Westeros has built a very good management team in recent years, and it is impossible for him to keep us when the time comes."

Sid Schinberg quickly sorted out Vassalman's train of thought.

Vassarman urged Daenerys Entertainment to join the bid, which could force Panasonic to raise its offer.

Then, Ovitz made a move at the right moment and pushed Daenerys Entertainment out of the game, so that MCA could be sold to Panasonic smoothly. Although the shareholders changed, MCA will continue to be in the hands of his own management.

Seeing the clear expression on Sid Schinberger's face, Wassalman added a little quietly: "Besides, Hollywood has always been ours after all, and Westeros is just an outsider anyway. I don't believe the others are really going to give up trying to stop the expansion of Daenerys Entertainment just because of a movie or two."

The 'we' here naturally refers to the Jews.

Among the seven major Hollywood companies, or Daenerys Entertainment, the newly promoted 'eighth largest', regardless of the behind-the-scenes shareholders, the heads of the studios who hold real power are basically Jewish.Lew Wasserman, Sid Schinberg, Steve Ross, Barry Diller, Shirley Lansing, Peter Guber, and more.

Even Amy Pascal is the same.

So Hollywood is Jewish Hollywood, and few would disagree with that statement.

The Jewish community that dominates Hollywood must instinctively resist a non-Jewish control of more and more power.

Simon Westeros happened to be a person with unknown origins. Although there was a surname that could show racial origin before Westeros, no one knew whether it was true or not, so no one Know exactly what his racial origin is.

In traditional and conservative western countries, different groups of people have always been very interested in this issue.

The unconfirmed rumors that an American president must be more or less blood-related to the British royal family are the best proof of this.

The rise of Simon Westeros is so fast that it is dizzying. However, in this MCA acquisition, probably no one will be too slow to react.

Although Westeros did not exclude Jews and other racial tendencies in the process of running Daenerys Entertainment, he is not Jewish after all, or has not publicly admitted that he is a Jew.

Regarding this matter, although the Jews in Hollywood may not necessarily know about Eastern culture, they understand a common truth very well.

Non-my family, its heart must be different.

Sid Simberg didn't feel that there was anything wrong with Vassalman's words, and asked, "Lu, what are you going to do with Ovitz?"

……

Simon didn't know Lou Wassalman's thoughts, and when he returned to Daenerys Studios, he told Amy and others to officially start contacting MCA.

Sign the agreement of intent as soon as possible, so that not only can the exit fee of 6000 million US dollars be determined, but also formally ask MCA for some internal assets and financial data that were previously unobtainable, so that the acquisition team can make appropriate adjustments to the originally proposed acquisition plan .

After the meeting with Amy and others, Simon returned to his office, and the female assistant followed in with a document.

"This is information from New York. Regarding David Melrowth's bill restricting overseas companies from acquiring American assets, they will be formally submitted to Congress next week. Also, we have helped contact the New York Times ", "Los Angeles Times" and "Washington Post", they will follow up and report on this bill simultaneously."