hunt hollywood

"As long as Paramount is willing to share the project, I can write and produce it myself."

Amy smiled and said, "That should be no problem."

Simon said again: "Besides Paramount, you recently asked the company's public relations team to pay close attention to the movements of various media. Well, isn't the schedule at the end of the year about to start? This time we will get an extra 2000 yuan for several films Just don’t be in a hurry to sign a contract, just talk to the media slowly and let them know how lucrative this advertising order is.”

Amy hesitated: "2000 million, seems a bit much?"

Of the films released by Daenerys Entertainment at the end of the year, only "Dances with Wolves" and "Home Alone" are more important. The other ones either don't have much expectation at the box office, or other studios are responsible for distribution.

Simon insisted: "That's it. The money that should be spent must be spent. Moreover, the money will not be spent in vain after all. It will definitely be beneficial to our movie box office. Even if it is not, let the media know , Daenerys Entertainment is a very generous advertiser, and it is totally unworthy to give up such a large client for a few stories."

"Okay, I'll discuss it with Bob and the others tomorrow."

"Also, try to find out what other arrangements Ovitz has made."

"I will."

After Simon explained this, he thought about it for a while, and asked Amy, "Do you have anything to add?"

Amy smiled and said, "You've said it all for the time being, and I can't remember it for a while, but as long as I think of it, I will definitely do it as soon as possible."

Simon nodded and said, "In this case, I'll wait until I go to Japan, and you can contact me anytime you encounter any problems."

Chapter 384 Draining from the bottom of the pot (repair)

In the study room in the front cabin of the Boeing 767, C girl Claire Gein knocked on the door to remind her that she had arrived in Japanese airspace, and brought in a box of watches with the time zone adjusted as usual.

Simon picked out one at random and put it on to check the time.

Japan is 18 hours earlier than the east coast of the United States, and it is now November 11, more than 5 o'clock in the morning on Monday.

The purpose of this trip to Japan was to meet with Akio Furui, President of Matsushita, and it was not a whim.

Ever since the Hearst family intervened to snatch the 20% stake in ESPN from Simon, he had an idea to find a way to get Panasonic to withdraw from the transaction voluntarily.

The Hearst family has recently acquired a stake in ESPN from Reynolds Nabisco for only US$1.8 million. I don’t know if they used their “influence” again, which is a full 2000 yuan lower than Simon’s original offer. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

However, although he also has a lot of chips in his hands, Simon has no intention of forcing Panasonic to withdraw.

The market value of Panasonic in this era is comparable to that of industry giants such as DuPont and General Electric in the United States. Daenerys Entertainment, as a local snake, uses some of its own advantages to force Panasonic to withdraw from the acquisition. Very unwise.

Compared with the Hearst family's dominance, Simon hopes to cooperate.

The development of the Westeros system will only touch the interests of more and more people in the future. In this case, if you want to continue to expand, you must win as many allies as possible instead of continuously creating enemies.This is the decision Simon has made when he has been thinking about the development route of the Westeros system in recent months. Even if the Westeros system is strong enough in the future, he does not intend to change this way of thinking.

Therefore, Daenerys Entertainment started to contact Panasonic last week, and a rough cooperation draft was sent in advance. Simon and Akio Furui finally agreed to have a meeting this afternoon.

As it was approaching noon, Simon and his party got off the plane, and Panasonic did not neglect, and specially prepared a lunch.

However, the scale of the luncheon was very small. If the translators were not counted, there were only Simon and Akio Furui.I didn't intend to make the fact that I came to Japan suddenly known, and Simon was happy to hear about it.

Moreover, only Akio Furui appeared at the luncheon, and Simon roughly guessed the reason.

The purpose of Simon's trip to Japan this time is to persuade Panasonic to withdraw from the MCA acquisition. For Panasonic, after the founder Konosuke Matsushita passed away last year, this huge corporate giant is not of one mind. Akio Furui hopes to acquire MCA, Panasonic There are actually quite a few internal opposition voices.Akio Furui probably didn't want the news of his meeting with Simon to spread.

Inside an exquisite Japanese restaurant in downtown Osaka.

Akio Furui is a short old man in his 60s, wearing glasses and looking a bit serious.

After we introduced each other, we came to a box.

There were four people in total, Akio Furui and his translator, a tall, thin middle-aged man.

Simon took Claire Gein, because of the frequent economic cooperation between Australia and Japan in the 80s, the C girl who graduated from the University of Melbourne majored in civil engineering and also took Japanese as an elective, and reached a very high level, more than enough to act as a translator.

Speaking of which, the ABCD four 'vases' that Janet helped her choose, although they are not as highly educated as the new housekeeper Alice Ferguson, are all at the elite level, otherwise, the new housekeeper would not be the first I got tricked a little by Miss C in one day.

According to the woman, ABCD can complement Simon.

For example, girl C majored in 'civil engineering' but Simon didn't know anything about it. Japanese is also a weakness of Simon.

The four of them sat cross-legged on the floor at a typical Japanese-style dining table. At first, they chatted about some topics casually. After the waiter served the lunch one by one and retreated, the topics were slightly relaxed.

Girl C didn't shy away from it, she got very close to Simon, and whispered in his ear and translated: "Simon, what do you think of the current situation of the Japanese economy? Will it continue to deteriorate?"

Simon skillfully held the chopsticks and tasted the sashimi in front of him. Hearing this, he looked at Akio Furui and said, "It's not likely to deteriorate, but it should continue to decline for a few years."

The middle-aged translator also whispered in Akio Furui's ear.

After listening to the translation, Akio Furui didn't seem to believe it, so he asked something.

Girl C said in real time: "The Japanese government has taken many rescue measures, and the foundation of the Japanese economy is very solid, so it shouldn't be in a downturn for a long time, right?"

Simon said: "I have been a little concerned about this. The Bank of Japan has recently started to lower interest rates again. In my opinion, this is very unwise. The bubble in the Japanese economy has not completely dissipated, especially the real estate bubble. Now it is eager to lower interest rates. Increasing liquidity will only allow funds to flow into the real estate market, and will not benefit the real economy much.”

"Do you mean that Japan needs to completely abandon the real estate industry?"

Simon nodded and said with a smile: "This is a very difficult choice, but it is also a necessary choice."

"Simon, when do you think the Japanese economy will start to recover?"

Simon smiled and shook his head: "I don't know. There have been many economic crises in history. Some countries can survive two or three years without pain, but some countries will never recover and remain in decline. The key is to Let's see how the Japanese government behaves."

"So, Simon, what do you think is the most serious problem facing the Japanese economy besides the housing bubble?"

Simon didn't expect Furui Akio to pursue these issues related to the national economy. He noticed that the translator on the opposite side seemed to be more focused than Furui Akio, and he roughly guessed something.After all, Cersei Capital’s operation around the Japanese stock market last year can indeed be called a classic.Moreover, Simon's own rise history can be regarded as a legend, and he has accumulated huge capital by relying on betting on the macroeconomic level several times in a row.

After thinking about it for a while, Simon didn't hide his secrets. Anyway, he said now that even if someone cares, when it comes to the future of a country, few people will easily listen to an outsider's opinion.

"I think the most serious problem facing the Japanese economy is corporate debt. If this problem is not resolved, the Japanese economy may remain in a downturn, and may even last for more than ten years."

"We have lowered bank rates and this should ease cash flow pressure on businesses."

"No, Gujing, you got one thing wrong." Simon shook his head and said, "The problem with Japanese companies is not that they lack money, but that they dare not borrow any more. Because after the stock market bubble burst, with the sharp drop in market value, many Japanese companies In the next few years, these Japanese companies will only focus on reducing their own debts in order to make their balance sheets look healthier. Therefore, measures such as lowering interest rates will have an effect on the real industry Not big."

Across the dining table, Furui Akio finally stopped asking questions, thought for a moment, and then said again: "This sounds like an unsolvable situation."

Simon nodded: "That's right. Enterprises are focused on reducing their debts and dare not borrow money. This will definitely lead to a decline in liquidity and further trigger deflation. Once this situation occurs, the entire country's economy will lose its vitality and never recover."

Furui Akio thought for a moment again, then raised his head and looked at Simon: "Is there really no solution?"

Simon said: "There are actually no solutions. Roosevelt did a good job back then. The key to developing infrastructure through government investment is to spend the money. However, Japan's infrastructure construction is already very complete. You want to The best thing to do is to spend the money, preferably abroad."

Akio Furui smiled after listening to the interpreter's explanation, and said, "Simon, you are a very honest person."

Simon roughly understood the meaning of Akio Furui's words, and also understood the meaning, and said with a smile: "Yes, according to my purpose of coming this time, I should persuade you to keep cash as much as possible and not invest in foreign countries. However, I I feel that the more suitable investment targets for Japan should be emerging developing countries, such as Asian countries and Eastern European countries. The United States is not a very good choice, and Hollywood, for Panasonic, is even more inappropriate."

Hearing Simon talking about Hollywood, Akio Furui did not change the topic, but asked seriously: "Simon, why is Hollywood not a good choice for Panasonic?"

Simon thought for a while and said, "Gujing, do you know 'Hollywood Ledger'?"

Akio Furui nodded, and said, "I've roughly heard that it's a common accounting method used by Hollywood studios to convert most of their profits into expenses in order to reduce tax burdens and share based on creative personnel."

"This is just one of the Hollywood ledgers," Simon nodded, and said, "In fact, there is another kind of Hollywood ledger, which is for outsiders. For example, Panasonic, you spend 1000 million U.S. dollars to invest in a film, and you get 1 million U.S. dollars in North America." Box office, then, how much do you think you can get?"

Akio Furui thought for a while, and said, "If Panasonic buys MCA, I think the company can earn at least 3000 million US dollars after excluding production and distribution costs?"

"No, even if Panasonic becomes the owner of MCA, you can still lose money."

"How to say?"

"I heard that you plan to keep Vassarman and Schinberg in charge of this company. According to the example I just gave, with a $1000 million investment and a $1 million box office, it seems that you can make more than $3000 million. But More likely, Vassarman will sign a very generous sharing contract with the main creator, 20% of the net profit will go to the director, such as Spielberg, and 20% of the net profit will go to the leading actor, such as Dustin Hoffman These big names. Then, there is the producer’s commission and the publicity costs that are destined to be even higher after the big hit. Even if a film with an investment of 1000 million US dollars gets a box office of 1 million US dollars, you may not necessarily make a profit. Divide the money."

"Simon, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Actually, this has already happened. Furui, you can have someone look into the "Captain Hawk" material that Columbia Pictures is making, and they use this split model. And, because Spielberg directed , Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, "Captain Hawk" cost far more than $1000 million to make. I don't think Sony can make much money from this project. Even Speer It is impossible for Sony to make money from the projects that people like Berg and Dustin Hoffman participated in. Do you think the other films invested by Sony will still be profitable?"

Akio Furui hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Simon, actually, we don't need Vassarman and the others to be in charge of Universal. Moreover, we will strengthen the supervision of this company."

Simon shook his head and said, "Hollywood is actually a very closed circle. I know that you may still consider Michael Ovitz to take charge of this company. Ovitz is indeed a very good agent, but you may not It is not very clear what he has been doing all these years. What Ovitz has been doing for the past ten years is to find ways to help C's clients get higher pay. Even if he is in charge of MCA, this thinking will not change easily, and he still It will attract talents through a very generous sharing contract, which may bring you a superficial prosperity. As for the benefits, of course, you should leave it to your own people in Hollywood as much as possible, and you are outsiders after all."

Akio Furui still couldn't believe it, and said, "Simon, this is just your side story."

Simon smiled and continued: "Actually, there is the last solution. Panasonic personally sends someone to take charge of the company. In fact, this is correct. Because what Hollywood studios need is paternalistic management with one word decision." You don’t need any professional managers. However, for Panasonic, this idea is even worse, because you don’t understand the entertainment industry at all, and if you take charge of this company yourself, you will become more and more outsiders. There is no need for Hollywood to take profits from you. Even a 500-pound sumo wrestler enters Hollywood and walks around, and he will probably be skinny when he comes out."

Miss C, who was originally concentrating, couldn't help laughing when she heard Simon's last metaphor.Realizing her gaffe, the girl quickly apologized, lowered her eyes and clumsily picked up her chopsticks, pretending to be busy.

Akio Furui did not smile, his expression gradually became serious, he stared at Simon and said, "I suddenly realized one thing, Simon, you are also what you call a 'Hollywood', what you said is basically just to make Panasonic Get out of the MCA takeover."

"I don't deny this. This is the purpose of my coming to Japan," Simon nodded, and said, "However, Gujing, I am a very honest person, as you just said. And, what I said, you can Find someone to investigate. There are many similar cases in Hollywood. For example, Columbia, although Sony and Panasonic are competitors, you can investigate. Empty this company."

Furui Akio hesitated for a moment, then nodded solemnly: "I will."

"Let's talk about our cooperation again," Simon turned: "Panasonic's acquisition of MCA is largely to follow up with Sony and prevent the other party from taking advantage of content advantages to encroach on Panasonic's market share in the field of film and music hardware. What you want , Daenerys Entertainment can give it, and the effect is better than Panasonic’s acquisition of MCA. For example, in terms of movies, in the past few years, Daenerys Entertainment accounted for a large part of the top ten movies at the North American box office. This is our Content advantages. Now, Daenerys Entertainment also owns one of the largest video chain companies in North America. In terms of content and channels, Daenerys Entertainment has unparalleled advantages in Hollywood. It is not impossible to squeeze out the market. You should have read the information I sent in advance, and this is just one of the contents of our cooperation."

Chapter 385 Sincerity (Revision)

When Akio Furui heard Simon talking about the cooperation, his expression did not change much, but the cooperation draft from Daenerys Entertainment appeared in his mind.

The draft is roughly divided into three items. The first item is in-depth brand cooperation, including the priority of Daenerys Entertainment’s future release of audio-visual products on Panasonic’s electronic hardware platform and the Panasonic brand’s advertisements in Daenerys Entertainment’s film and television content. implant etc.

This is actually the main purpose of Panasonic's acquisition of MCA.

The second is the joint construction of Universal Studios Osaka.

Universal Studios Osaka in the original time and space was completed around the new millennium, and there is no clue yet.

Relying on the Japanese’s admiration for American culture, Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983, achieved great success that year. The investment of US$10 billion was fully recovered in just a few years. Disney is too late to regret.

Universal Studios in Osaka, as Simon remembers it, has not been as successful as Tokyo Disneyland, but it is still very popular.

As long as the MCA can be successfully won, relying on Universal Studios' years of operating experience and Daenerys Entertainment's rich content accumulation, a very important expansion goal for Simon in the next stage is to build Universal Studios Osaka ahead of schedule.

It is said to be Universal Studios Osaka, but in fact, once the studio is completed, the potential source of tourists will cover the whole of Asia, which will be of great benefit to the promotion of Daenerys Entertainment's brands throughout Asia.

Simon's construction of Universal Studios in Osaka will certainly not make the mistake of Disney that can only get 10% of Tokyo Disney's ticket revenue and 5% of brand licensing fees.However, he does not plan to invest alone.As an outsider, if you no longer find a local local snake to cooperate with, you will almost inevitably encounter various difficulties and twists and turns in the future.

Panasonic, headquartered in Osaka, is undoubtedly the biggest local snake.

Moreover, Panasonic, which is not involved in the studio park business, will not fight for control with Daenerys Entertainment, compared to Tokyo Disney’s partner Japan Oriental Paradise.

The last cooperation is a five-year convertible bond worth US$10 billion.

Daenerys Entertainment issued a directional convertible bond worth US$10 billion to Panasonic. It was agreed that once Daenerys Entertainment conducted an IPO within the bond contract period, Panasonic could convert the money into shares of Daenerys Entertainment. In order to further deepen the cooperative relationship between the two parties.

The $10 billion bond amount was also carefully considered.

Simon is confident that as long as MCA can be successfully digested in the next few years, the market value of Daenerys Entertainment will not be less than 200 billion US dollars when it goes public. The $10 billion bond was converted into Daenerys Entertainment stock, which happens to be equivalent to a holding of around 5%.

The 5% shareholding ratio is not only the lower limit for filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but also the upper limit for the US to hold foreign investors in some restricted industries.

If the U.S. government still has not lifted the industry restrictions that foreign investors are not allowed to hold American TV stations, it only needs to control Panasonic’s shareholding ratio within 5%, and only exist in the form of investors without the right to speak. related bans.

The potential value of each of the three cooperations has actually reached the level of US$10 billion.

The $30 billion partnership is almost half the size of the MCA acquisition.It can be said that Simon has shown great sincerity.

Seeing that Akio Furui fell silent, Simon also temporarily stopped talking and began to enjoy the food in front of him.

After a few minutes of silence in the box, Akio Furui finally spoke again, saying, "Simon, what if Panasonic still doesn't want to quit?"

"Daenerys Entertainment will also not withdraw voluntarily," Simon looked up again, looked at Furui Akio without hesitation, and then smiled again: "Gujing, I remember that Japanese people like a book called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" ?”

Girl C next to Simon obviously didn't know "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". After looking at her boss, she could only translate it according to her own judgment.

Akio Furui listened to his translator explain in a low voice, with a surprised expression on his face, he asked, "Simon, do you know the Three Kingdoms too?"

"Actually, I can speak very good Chinese." Simon nodded, poured some sake into a plate, and quickly wrote a standard regular script on the table with his fingers: The general trend of the world, when divided for a long time, must be united, united for a long time must be divided.

Japanese and Chinese have so much in common that Akio Furui recognized the most famous sentence in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" almost without translating, and read it in Japanese, looking at the beautiful vertical Chinese characters, Looking up in surprise, he said, "Simon, I have to say, you surprised me again."

Simon picked up his chopsticks again, and said, "I didn't write this sentence to surprise you. This is actually my opinion on the development trend of the American media industry. Hollywood acted according to the famous Paramount Act in 1948. The demarcation point, before this was the era of big studios. Big film companies firmly held control of Hollywood through a vertical management system from brokerage companies, studios to theaters. It was an era of 'combination'. After the Paramount Act, studios were no longer allowed to act as talent agents, and they had to spin off theaters. Coupled with the rise of the TV industry, many new small and medium-sized film companies began to emerge, unlike the traditional major studios. Competing, calculated, should have been until the stock market crash in 1987. The economic prosperity of the United States in the 80s ended, the capital-intensive film and television industry fell into depression, and second and third-tier film companies such as Canon Pictures and De Laurentiis Entertainment went bankrupt. This era of 'points' is over."

Akio Furui listened carefully to the real-time explanation of the interpreter beside him, and finally couldn't help but glance at the line of Chinese characters written by Simon on the desktop, and said: "Simon, what do you mean, Hollywood has reached another 'co-op' now?" ' era?"

"That's right," Simon nodded, and said, "The merger of Time Company and Warner Bros., which was completed in January this year, is a very obvious sign. However, this time it is no longer the vertical integration of many years ago, but Horizontal integration, Hollywood major film companies are driven by film and television content, and achieve synergies through diversified operations through expansion into music, television, print media, retail and other fields. Compared with the vertical management system in the era of large studios, horizontal integration After the completion of diversified operations, through all-round industrial barriers, it will be easier to suppress the rise of latecomers. In the future, it will be difficult for Hollywood to have too much room for survival of second- and third-tier film companies, and the major giants will continue to compete with each other. Annexation, eventually forming a few large media oligarchy."

Furui Akio didn't wait for Simon to explain in depth, his face showed a little clarity.

Simon further pointed out: "Gujing, if you pay attention to the recent trend of public opinion in the United States, you will find that there are very strong calls to restrict Japanese companies from buying Hollywood studios. Even if you can beat Daenerys Entertainment in terms of price, this is a big deal. The acquisition may not be successful. On the other hand, even if you insist on acquiring MCA at a very expensive price, the first thing Panasonic has to do is to sell the TV stations under MCA in accordance with the restrictions of US law. I believe that there will be a long period of time in the future. The federal government will not lift this ban. On the contrary, in order to prevent more Hollywood companies from being acquired by overseas giants, the federal government has recently considered lifting the regulatory restrictions on mutual mergers between TV networks and studios. I think this is An inevitable trend. At that time, the horizontal integration of the American media industry will be further accelerated, and it will have more and more powerful industrial advantages. Panasonic bought MCA, which would have been rejected by Hollywood as an outsider and restricted by American laws. You are destined to be unable to keep up with the pace of horizontal integration in the media field, with multiple disadvantages stacked up, I don’t think there is a second way for Panasonic to go in the future except to withdraw again.”

After Simon finished speaking in a hurry, he finally added: "Moreover, Daenerys Entertainment will not easily withdraw from this bidding, because Daenerys Entertainment must be in this horizontally integrated media industry trend." Take the lead. In addition, speaking of available funds, I believe that my company is no worse than Panasonic. However, I don't want to start a bidding war with Panasonic. The current price is relative to the value of MCA itself. Said it was already very expensive.”

"However, Simon," Akio Furui said quickly, "Panasonic bought MCA also for the sake of its own diversified development."

Simon couldn't help but shook his head, and said, "Furui, Panasonic is already diversified enough. Given Japan's current economic situation, what you should do is pruning and cutting leaves, and try to ensure your own core industries in the economic downturn. Advantages, and to explore emerging markets as soon as possible against the background of Japan-US trade tightening, instead of blindly expanding into fields that you have never set foot in."

Akio Furui fell into a longer silence after listening to Simon's words.

After eating lunch for nearly two hours, Simon and Akio Furui rushed to a private house on the beach in Osaka, where they discussed the cooperation draft and many other topics for more than two hours.