"3,000, I think this is the optimal number of Blockbuster chain stores in the United States. It is very unwise to blindly pursue market share. It will only cause us to waste money and energy in commercial areas with very low returns. By continuously optimizing the configuration of the planned 3,000 video chain stores, I hope that Blockbuster can achieve 50% of the local market share in the next three years."
The video tape industry in the United States has developed rapidly in recent years and is expected to exceed US$10 billion in sales this year, which is equivalent to twice the domestic box office.
If Blockbuster can achieve 50% market share, it will be an industrial giant with annual revenue of US$5 billion and a profit scale of about US$500 million. Its market value alone can easily exceed US$10 billion.
Inside Office LOFT No. 3 of Daenerys Studios.
Simon heard what Nancy said and said: "If your goal can really be achieved, maybe I should buy out the remaining shares of Blockbuster now."
"I have calculated it," Nancy gestured with her slender fingers on the table and said: "Blockbuster's recent market value is around US$3.2 billion. As the war in the Gulf continues, it may fall to Within 3 billion U.S. dollars. For a wholly-owned acquisition, the offer can be controlled between 4.5 billion and 5 billion U.S. dollars, and the actual cash we need to pay is about 3 billion U.S. dollars."
Simon looked at Nancy's beautiful and delicate little hands, with a smile on his lips, and said: "You know, I am currently planning a big acquisition plan."
Nancy felt Simon's gaze and rolled her eyes at him. Seeing that the man showed no sign of guilt, she did not look away. She had to pick up the coffee cup next to her and took a sip, saying: "Two things. There’s no conflict. Even if you don’t have enough of your own funds, wouldn’t it be easy to borrow billions of dollars from a bank?”
The debt crisis that broke out at the end of last year caused major banks in North America to tighten credit, making it significantly more difficult for many companies to obtain loans. However, high-quality borrowers like Simon have become the most enthusiastic lending targets of major banks.
Even if Simon wants to raise US$10 billion now, it will not be too difficult.
"That's right," Simon said. "It's just that besides Universal, I'm also considering other things. It's also a big plan that costs a lot of money, and the return rate is higher than that of Blockbuster. So, this matter You can only stay back."
When it came to an acquisition involving billions of dollars, Nancy didn't expect Simon to agree immediately. When she heard that Simon had other plans, she asked curiously: "What?"
Simon shook his head: "I can't tell you."
Nancy said dissatisfied: "Boss, do you think I'm not trustworthy?"
"Of course it's worth it," Simon affirmed: "However, trust actually needs to be maintained. The most important thing is that if it is not necessary, don't easily give others reasons that may destroy this trust."
Nancy realized something and said, "Okay, I won't ask anymore."
"So, let's talk about overseas," Simon continued: "I find that Blockbuster's overseas expansion seems to be a bit slow. Unlike movie theater chains, video chain stores are subject to very few government regulations and trade barriers in overseas markets. Since they plan to expand, , overseas expansion should also be a very important one.”
Compared with Blockbuster, which is expected to have more than 2,000 chain stores in the United States this year, overseas, it has only completed a small-scale layout in neighboring countries of the United States and the five European countries of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Moreover, except for Canada and North America, where the development pace is synchronized, the total number of chain stores in other markets is less than 200, and they are mainly concentrated in core cities such as London, Paris, and Berlin.
"Those overseas chain stores are just to explore the market for the time being. Preliminary market research and data analysis are very important. After completing these, as long as there are sufficient funds, the overseas expansion speed will not be worse than that in North America. In addition, I recently plan to put Blockbuster in All chain stores in the Boston-Washington metropolitan area on the East Coast are connected to the Internet, and Blockbuster's membership system needs to be re-planned. In short, there are many things to do, and overseas markets cannot allocate much energy for the time being."
"As long as you know what's going on," Simon nodded and warned, "Also, don't take everything on yourself, let go of what should be left to Wayne Huizenga and James Frey. "
Although it is a very important holding company under Daenerys Entertainment, because of the existence of Nancy Brill, Wayne Huizenga and others, Simon is very assured of this company, except for some important financial matters. and personnel changes, he now basically has no involvement in the specific operations of Blockbuster.
"I understand."
As Nancy spoke, she remembered something and called her assistant who was waiting nearby to explain a few words. Then she turned to Simon and explained: "Speaking of Blockbuster's membership system, please help me see what needs to be improved. And the "Dune" video game has started internal testing, and I just want to give you a copy."
Seeing that the little woman was blatantly exploiting the boss again, Simon said: "I can get hundreds of thousands a minute, so don't bother me with this kind of thing, right?"
The layout of real-time strategy games has been a very important category from the stand-alone game era in the 1990s to the online game era in the new century. Many years later, phenomenally popular online games such as "World of Warcraft" and "League of Legends" are all related to real-time Strategy games are inextricably linked.
Therefore, Simon has actually been following the production of "Dune", after all, it is related to many future layouts.
As for Blockbuster's membership system, he has no interest in discussing it.
With so many people in Blockbuster, we can't keep them in vain.
Nancy didn’t understand the idea of hundreds of thousands a minute, and said: “I just want you to see if you have any good ideas. Of course we will do the details ourselves. I find that you can always come up with novelties that break through the limitations of ordinary people’s thinking. Conceived, this talent is simply enviable.”
"Is this a compliment? But why don't I feel it myself?"
Nancy said: "The DC movie universe is just such a plan. Do you know how amazing it is? As long as the two films next year can be successful, this plan may be included in the case teaching materials of Harvard Business School."
Simon smiled and said: "Well, it seems that I am really good."
Nancy rolled her eyes at Simon again.
The assistant quickly delivered a folder and a floppy disk copy of "Dune."
Simon put the game floppy disk aside and opened the document. Nancy on the opposite side said: "We temporarily plan to divide the membership into junior members and senior members. We mainly provide member discounts, extend the video tape return period, and reduce liquidated damages. Similar terms, as well as some monthly or yearly subscription ideas.”
After asking Nancy's assistant to get him another bottle of water, Simon lowered his head and began to look through the membership plans in front of him.
Nancy didn't waste time. She flipped through another document and noticed that her assistant had brought a bottle of mineral water. She also randomly found a topic and said, "I've seen you only drink water several times, why not Have some coffee?”
Simon didn't look up and said: "Jenny and I are planning to have a child. Drinking coffee is not good."
Nancy wondered: "Will coffee affect children?"
"It's a very serious impact, so you need to pay attention to it in the future."
"I have no intention of getting married."
"Not getting married doesn't mean you can't have children."
"Having a baby is very troublesome. If necessary, I plan to adopt one."
"It's better to have a child by yourself."
Nancy thought of something and said dissatisfied: "Macho chauvinism."
Simon was puzzled: "Are there any causal relationship between these two things?"
"have!"
"Well, I'm a chauvinist."
Both of them were quiet. After a while, Simon said: "These plans look very good to me. What are the specific effects? I think Blockbuster can choose chain stores in one or two states like the overseas pilot you just mentioned. Try it first, and if it works, promote it nationwide. If it doesn't, cancel it, and it won't affect the overall situation. In fact, the advantage of a large enough enterprise is that it has a strong fault tolerance rate. It's not just a membership system. As long as you have any good ideas, You can choose some areas to try.”
Nancy thought for a moment, then picked up her memo and started writing it down.
Simon smiled and said: "Don't be so solemn. Didn't you think of it?"
"I thought of the first half of what you said, but not the second half," Nancy said, quickly wrote a few words and then raised her head and said, "Is there anything else?"
"Regarding the value-added services of membership," Simon said, "Have you ever rented a video tape from a Blockbuster chain store in person?"
Nancy said, "Of course, every week."
"Do you find it troublesome?"
"trouble?"
"Haven't you ever thought about home delivery?"
Nancy thought for a moment and said: "The cost is too high. Selecting film sources, remote booking, and logistics are all big problems."
"In the short term, you can make reservations by phone. As for logistics issues, try to cooperate with the postal system. The federal postal system is very developed, and they probably don't mind having an extra door. Sign a contract with the local postal system to take orders for the whole year. By packaging the contract, Blockbuster will be able to get rid of the constraints of chain stores and only need a few large warehousing and logistics centers in a city."
An expression of surprise appeared on Nancy's little face, and she said: "This is simply a subversion. If we really do it, our existing chain store system will collapse."
Simon shrugged and said, "I can think of others having similar thoughts. Blockbuster will subvert itself or be subverted by others. Which of the two results do you choose?"
Nancy frowned, continued to think for a moment, and said: "Such a service involves too many complex links and needs to be developed to a sufficient scale to achieve scale effects. It is impossible for a smaller video chain company to carry out such a business. We ourselves don’t seem to need to do this. Blockbuster’s chain store distribution has been carefully selected and continues to be optimized to meet the convenience of users to the greatest extent. They can often stop by the store to pick up videos on their way from get off work. No need for long-distance mailing. By the way, you just said short-term, do you have any long-term ideas?"
Simon felt the negation in Nancy's tone and was not surprised.
It is indeed not easy to implement a business model similar to Netflix in this era where only telephone reservations can be used for the time being. Moreover, even in the Internet era, Blockbuster will instinctively resist this kind of business model for the sake of maintaining its own chain store system. Business model.
"In the long term, if Internet users develop to a sufficient scale, Blockbuster can establish its own online website, and users can search for pre-ordered video tapes through the website, just like the library's electronic book retrieval system, which can solve the problem of film source selection and There is no problem with remote booking, and it is more secure and more convenient. The video tape is obtained through the postal system. After watching it, the user only needs to stuff the video tape into a special Blockbuster package and mail it back without leaving home. "
"If I remember correctly, the number of AOL users should reach 150,000 this month. How many years do you think it will take to reach a sufficient user scale?"
"It only took ten years for the proportion of American households to own video recorders from 2% to 70%. I believe it will only take ten years at most for the Internet to reach such a level of popularity."
"The idea of developing business through the Internet is very good, but even if your prediction comes true, you will have to wait at least another five years. A 2% penetration rate of home video recorders will not be able to develop a Blockbuster." Nancy said , suddenly changed the subject, stared at Simon without blinking and asked: "Boss, I'm very curious, where do you get these advanced ideas?"
This was not the first time Simon encountered this kind of problem. The little look Janet stared at him in the past was considered lethal, so he calmly said: "The idea I just had was told to me by a guy named Reed."
"Reed?"
"Yes," Simon nodded, raised his chin towards the empty seat next to Nancy opposite, and said in a faint and strange tone: "He is sitting next to you."
Nancy turned to look at the air next to her and said in an unhappy tone: "Hey, Reed, can you sit across from me? I hate men."
The little woman seriously cooperated with Simon in making a joke. Neither of them laughed, but Jennifer Raybould and Shirley Lansing, who happened to be walking together, were confused and even felt a little confused.
What's the situation
Seeing Jennifer and Lansing, Nancy stuck out her tongue, and after greeting the two women, she explained: "It's just a joke." After saying that, she stood up, pointed to the "Dune" game floppy disk in Simon's hand, and said: "I'll start with Go get busy, remember to send me an email after you try it out.”
After Nancy left, Jennifer said to Simon who stood up: "Ms. Lansing has been waiting for you for a while, so I brought her here."
Simon checked his watch.
Scheduled to meet with Shirley Lansing at 2:30 pm to discuss Daenerys' partnership with MGM. I just finished the meeting at Marvel and it was still a bit early. I was not in a hurry to go back to the administrative area. Unexpectedly, I was chatting with Nancy and it was already three o'clock before I knew it.
After saying sorry and simply sitting down here, Simon asked Lansing: "Have you read the script of "A Few Good Men"?"
These days, Johnston Holdings Company in Australia has begun to take over the Seventh Television Network under the name of Qintex Group, and the cooperation between Daenerys Entertainment and MGM has also been advancing.
In Simon's view, the most critical issue facing MGM is not to be sold back and forth like it was in the 1980s. As long as it is given a stable development environment, in the context of Hollywood's global expansion in the 1990s, it wants to Recovering is not difficult.
No matter what happens, with a few years of patient operation, Australia can resell the company at a very good price.
As for the two planned films to collaborate on, Simon was not satisfied with several of the projects proposed by MGM. In the end, he simply took out the rights to a film he had just bought from Daenerys, "A Few Good Men."