As night falls, there are no lights on in the bedroom of a penthouse on Lexington Avenue.
The weak city lights shine through the window on the large bed scattered in the bedroom. Against the dim light, there seems to be a faint breath of confusion floating in the air, but there is no one on the bed.
In the corner by the window, a woman wrapped only in a bath towel curled up softly on a single sofa. Her fluffy and slightly wet hair covered half of her rosy face. She tilted her head and held one hand to her lips. She didn't dare to look at the man sitting cross-legged on the carpet, stretching her calves.
It's obviously his fault.
At one point, she felt like she was going to die.
However, he tried his best to secretly hide the fact that he couldn't bear the cramp in his calf, but he still found him before taking a shower, and he had the urge to run away.
After a moment, his eyes glanced over again carefully.
The man lowered his head, looking very serious and patient, so he tapped his knee lightly with his toes, indicating that he was fine.
Simon raised his head and asked softly: "Would you like to rub the other side too?"
No!
I shouted in my heart, still avoiding his eyes, and whispered softly: "Left leg, it's okay. It's time for you to go back to Greenwich."
Simon nodded and said, "I'll have someone send some food over first."
The woman was stunned for a moment.
Then what.
Then it was time to leave.
Although I don't want to and don't dare to argue with Janet, it's my first time to have fun with this little man. Even if he refuses a few times and pretends to deceive me, it's okay.
Immediately I felt some self-pity.
She took her calves away from his hands and huddled on the sofa.
Seeing Sofia's appearance, Simon stretched out his hand. The woman felt his touch, hid, and turned her back to him.
The hand did not give up, and it reached under her body and exerted a little force. Sophia's whole body was dragged down, and she landed on the carpet with a soft cry, and the bath towel couldn't help but spread out.
The jade body lay horizontally.
He twisted his body and wanted to stay away from Simon, but he was unable to resist the man's big hand that casually grabbed him.
I could only look over with grievance, feeling that my eyes were wet and trying not to shed tears.
Seeing that the woman no longer tried to escape, Simon stroked her face and said softly: "I don't have much to give you. I will give you whatever I have to give."
Knowing that what he said was only half of what he said.
If you can't give it, it's useless to fight and rob it.
Xiao Xiaodi confronted him for another moment, knowing that the man was still waiting for his response, and finally hummed in obedience.
Putting these things down, I suddenly felt that my little emotion just now was a little inappropriate. I was worried that he would think that my answer was not sincere enough. I took the initiative to press my cheek to the man's palm and said: "I brought food over this afternoon. It's in the kitchen. Just heat it up."
Simon picked up the woman and put her on the big bed, lowered his head and kissed her on the lips, and said, "Then wait a moment."
The two had a simple dinner together, and Simon returned to Greenwich.
Sofia has been living in Manhattan in recent days, and in tonight's state, it is even more impossible for them to return to Greenwich to see their children.
The next day is Saturday.
Simon and Janet attended a party hosted by Gucci at the Gramercy Hotel in Manhattan in the evening, and returned to Los Angeles after spending the weekend on the East Coast.
For Daenerys Entertainment, the company has a total of three films released in October, namely Jane Campion's "Angels at My Table" on October 12, and "Angels at My Table" purchased from the Cannes Film Festival on October 19. "Ju Dou" and "Ten Days of Danger" will be released on October 26th for Halloween.
"Angels at My Table" and "Ju Dou" were both released by Gaomen Pictures and did not have much ambition at the box office. However, Ella Deutschman has applied for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language for the latter. Film Award.
The focus is still on "Ten Days in Danger" in cooperation with Universal Pictures.
In the previous summer releases, "Sleeping with the Enemy" in collaboration with Fox and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" in collaboration with Disney both achieved excellent box office results. Therefore, Universal is interested in "Sleeping with the Enemy", which also belongs to the crime thriller genre. 》also full of confidence.
"10 Days of Danger" is adapted from the original novel by the famous horror novelist Stephen King, and it is more famous than the previous two. The two protagonists, Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon, are also household names in Hollywood.
Simon has seen the samples of this version of "Dangerous Days" more than once before, and also participated in the production of the trailer.
Simon prefers the new version to the one starring Kathy Bates.
At the same level as a movie queen, Susan Sarandon's performance is no less than that of Kathy Bates. Moreover, because of her appearance, the obvious sexual tension between the two protagonists adds a bit more to the film. Strange contrast and horror.
Simon returned to Los Angeles, and the promotion of "Dangerous Days" has entered the final stage of intensive trailer release.
As one of Daenerys Entertainment's 10 film plans, 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 providing support for Universal, which is responsible for distribution. The studio saved millions of dollars in marketing expenses.
In addition, the promotion and distribution work for a series of films scheduled for the end of the year has already begun.
Daenerys Entertainment will mainly launch four movies during Thanksgiving and Christmas at the end of the year.
They are Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" on November 2, "Pink" in collaboration with Columbia Pictures on November 23, and Robert Altman's "Intersection" on December 7 and “Home Alone” on December 21.
Speaking of which, "Dances with Wolves", which has gained good internal reputation after several test screenings, will become Daenerys Entertainment's Oscar public relations focus this year. It stands to reason that it would be more appropriate to place the film in December.
However, Simon also has box office ambitions for this movie. The memory of "Dances with Wolves" is also a blockbuster film with a box office of more than 180 million US dollars in North America. Therefore, in order to avoid conflict with "Home Alone", Simon still The film was placed in November.
As for "Intersections" in December, this film will of course also pursue an Oscar nomination. However, as we all know, Robert Altman's works have never been popular with Oscar judges. He has already won the Golden Lion Award in Venice. Even though it is a success, the film's goal is only to accumulate long-term box office through the popularity of the awards season, and it has no expectations for awards.
Two commercial films, "Pink" distributed by Columbia Pictures and "Home Alone" produced by Daenerys Entertainment, respectively occupy two major schedules, and the promotion and distribution work is progressing step by step. Needless to say, this aspect needs no introduction.
Thursday, October 11th.
Time has entered mid-October, and the filming of "The Dark Knight" in Australia has entered the final stage and will be completed next week. Simon plans to fly to Melbourne next week to study and shoot samples with several main creators to determine whether Need to reshoot.
At around five o'clock in the afternoon, Simon, who did not get off work on time as usual, was discussing the post-production plan of the film with the creators of "Silence of the Lambs" in the post-production center of the studio. The female assistant appeared and whispered a few words in Simon's ear.
After hearing what Jennifer said, Simon thought for a while and said, "Forget about the cocktail party and the like, let's go to Burbank tomorrow morning."
Janet just told Simon that Lou Vassalman finally couldn't bear it anymore and took the initiative to invite Simon to a cocktail party tonight to talk about the MCA acquisition, which was already well known throughout Hollywood.
After being 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 attends two hundred various parties every year, so he chose to refuse.
After hearing what Simon said, the female assistant turned and left.
After Simon and "Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme finished their discussion, the female assistant appeared again and rescheduled the meeting time for tomorrow.
The next day, Simon rushed to Daenerys Studios first, changed into an inconspicuous ordinary car, and drove to Burbank in a low-key manner.
Lou Vassalman was waiting for him in an office building on the northwest corner of Universal Studios.
The two met and exchanged a few words before Vassalman got to the point: "Simon, everyone now knows that you are interested in Global. A friend of mine at Citibank told me that you have signed a 20-year contract with them. Billion dollar loan agreement. So, I don’t understand what are you waiting for?”
A seller takes the initiative to ask a buyer for a sale. Under normal circumstances, this is definitely not a wise behavior. It is equivalent to handing the initiative into the hands of the other party.
However, Simon was too calm this time and forcefully dragged Vassalman until he lost his patience.
The 77-year-old man should be a patient person, but looking at MCA's stock price which has not been too high due to Daenerys Entertainment's delay in expressing its stance, and the urging from Panasonic, he has to take the initiative. .
What Simon is waiting for, of course, is the preparations for the acquisition of Bell Atlantic in New York.
Due to the official announcement of Panasonic's acquisition of MCA and news of Daenerys Entertainment's intention to participate in the bid, MCA's recent stock price has been close to US$60.
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 again.
At that time, it is unlikely that MCA will accept Daenerys Entertainment’s acquisition offer which is lower than the market price.
In comparison, if two acquisitions can be launched at the same time and a gesture may be given to one of them, the market performance will no longer be so enthusiastic.
At this time, in front of Lou Vassalman, of course Simon would not tell the truth, but he also said frankly: "Lou, I am not sure whether I should participate in the bidding for MCA now, you know, Danielle The development of Daenerys Entertainment is very good, and I think that even if it does not merge with another Hollywood studio, it only needs to be patient for a few years, and Daenerys Entertainment will become strong enough."
In fact, MCA's revenue in the last fiscal year was US$3.3 billion and net profit was US$296 million. This year, due to the poor box office performance of the summer "Back to the Future 3", the revenue and profit performance will be even worse. In comparison, not to mention the net profit expected to exceed US$1 billion, just in terms of revenue, Daenerys Entertainment can overtake MCA this year.
The gap between the two sides is basically just a background.
Speaking carefully, there is indeed nothing wrong with Simon's excuse. Daenerys Entertainment will definitely be able to achieve a state of being completely on par with the Seven or even surpassing it if it operates patiently for a few years.
However, this still takes time after all.
Even the Universal Studios and record companies owned by MCA can not only be accumulated over time.
Universal Studios has a history almost as long as Hollywood. If Daenerys Entertainment invests in building a studio project now, although there will be no problem in terms of funds, the company also has enough IP resources to support a movie studio park. However, the new movie studio will The city simply cannot achieve the deep-rooted and accumulated influence of Universal Studios and Disneyland.
The same goes for record companies.
Not to mention anything else, Universal Music's huge music copyright library cannot be achieved by a simple short-term accumulation.
What's more, MCA can also form a strong complement to Daenerys Entertainment in terms of distribution channels, cinema lines, film libraries, etc. Simon absolutely needs to buy this company.
Lou Vassalman, who has been in Hollywood for more than half a century, can certainly see this and said: "Simon, I had a communication with Akio Furui of Panasonic last week. If you really don't plan to get involved, At the latest next week, MCA will submit Panasonic's offer to the board of directors for review and further conduct a shareholder vote. I know that many corporate bidders will participate on the eve of other people's shareholder votes, just like Paramount last year. This way you can grasp your competitors’ cards and bargaining chips to the greatest extent, but I think this is completely unnecessary for you.”
Simon thought in his mind.
Before the meeting, Simon was worried that MCA and Panasonic would reach a preliminary agreement this week and quickly launch a shareholder vote.
Now, according to Vassalman, MCA will hold 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 will be the end of October, which coincides with Simon's planned schedule. .
In this case, Simon was completely relieved.
However, after thinking for a moment, Simon said: "Okay, Lu, I am indeed interested in MCA. However, I do not intend to have an unrestrained bidding war with Panasonic. If you agree, I hope that Daenerys Entertainment and MCA signed a confidential agreement of intent and Daenerys Entertainment will not pay an exit fee if the acquisition fails."
In normal corporate mergers and acquisitions, considering the impact the acquisition will have on the operations 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 often between 1% and 5% of the market value of the target company. between.
This means that according to the original transaction price of US$6.6 billion for MCA, once it wants to launch, the acquirer will need to pay an exit fee of between US$66 million and US$330 million.
However, nothing is absolute.
This fee can also be waived as long as both parties communicate properly.
When Warren Buffett and Tom Murphy's Metropolitan Corporation acquired the ABC Television Network, Buffett, who was responsible for that acquisition, proposed that if the acquisition failed, Metropolitan Corporation would not pay a huge exit fee. ABC Television Network executives at the time I agreed.
Of course, that acquisition turned out to be successful.
When Lou Vassalman heard Simon's request, his expression was a little hesitant.
He could understand that Simon made this request mainly to suppress the market's excessive pursuit of MCA stocks. Once they know that Daenerys Entertainment can exit at will without paying any price, investors will be more cautious in buying MCA shares.
However, the risk for MCA is very high.
When two companies bid for an enterprise, one party does not compete with the other party in terms of quotation and does not need to pay fees when withdrawing. Furthermore, the party that wins the bidding process between the two parties will only have to pay an exit fee if it abandons the acquisition during later negotiations or is affected by policy and regulatory factors and is unable to complete the acquisition.
If you agree to Simon's conditions at this time, once Daenerys Entertainment squeezes out Panasonic and then gives up the acquisition for some reason, without having to pay any price, then MCA will be in tears.
You must know that once the acquisition completely fails, 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 with heavy book losses will definitely put pressure on the management.
On the other hand, after experiencing the torment of an acquisition, the operation of the company itself will also be seriously affected.
Just like MGM, if it had not been repeatedly sold back and forth in the 1980s, but had been managed patiently, this old studio would not be as half-dead as it is now.