After washing and applying makeup, Kris Jenner walked out of the bathroom. Seeing that Simon had returned to the round table on the terrace, Kris Jenner felt a little embarrassed. You don't need to bother with anything.
Of course, I didn't dare to show it on my face.
In the courtyard, the sound of party music and chatter and laughter was still there.
No one seemed to notice what happened in the past half hour or so.
After adjusting the skirt of the red low-cut dress again, the woman walked over carefully and sat down next to him after receiving permission from the man's eyes.
I just checked the angle. She was sitting farthest from the fence and would not be seen by people downstairs.
Although she doesn't mind, and even wants to be seen, smart women obviously know what can and cannot be done.
"The project team arranged an interactive crossover episode of "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "The Housewives of New York." They were filming here in the past few days. When we were talking about things during the day, I met Mr. Friedman. He said there would be one tonight. Party, I’m coming.”
After explaining this, Kris Jenner wisely closed her mouth when she saw that the man was just leaning back on the chair and looking quietly downstairs without any intention of chatting with her.
Anyway, having this 'tiger skin' is enough.
She wouldn't dare ask for anything if this man wouldn't give it to her.
At least Jonathan Friedman must have known she was coming.
After a while, Kris Jenner heard the man asking her to bring someone a glass of wine. Knowing that he was chasing someone away, she got up and left the terrace.
Because of meeting this woman, Simon just thought of the USA TV network.
After the merger last year, USA successfully transformed into a women's television network through the two series "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "The Housewives of New York."
But this is obviously not enough.
However, in the past year, two large-scale acquisitions and various other things have consumed most of Simon's energy. He does not have much time to take into account the development of USA, including even the very promising MCA Records. It can be handed over to a group of senior executives under the company.
The new year has just begun and there are still a lot of things to do.
Until now.
After several years of close attention, Daenerys Entertainment's film business has been very stable, and it is probably time to turn its energy to other businesses.
Cable TV can thrive for at least another thirty years. In terms of music, although the physical record industry will decline rapidly with the rise of the Internet, in the West, where the copyright protection system is very complete, the record industry will never disappear. Nothing more than transformation.
Moreover, in my memory, the several major record giants that survived after mergers and reorganizations always claimed that their lives were difficult, but in fact they were always making money.
Furthermore, the record industry was still on the eve of its last boom in the nineties.
Established celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Madonna still dominate the music scene, but the 1990s was the period of the rise of teen pop music.
During this period, a large number of teenage pop music singers, such as the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and even the British Spice Girls, supported most of the attention of the Western music industry and spread this trend throughout the world until Many years later, the Korean entertainment industry is still continuing the combination model that emerged in Europe and the United States in the 1990s.
In Simon's view, the biggest feature of youth popularity is that it can create stars in batches.
The rise of traditional superstars such as Michael Jackson and Madonna has a lot to do with strength and luck. However, for teenage pop singers, as long as they have a good skin and their performance quality is not too bad, it is almost enough. The next step is to follow Fixed routine for packaging.
Not only that, there are some more direct and faster methods, drafting.
None of this can be accomplished overnight.
After careful consideration, Simon decided to start with USA.
With so much experience in two lifetimes, Simon can easily sort out some rules: the rise of a TV network or media platform often requires a phenomenal TV show. For example, HBO's "The Sopranos" in the late 1990s pushed the TV network to its peak. Later, because of "House of Cards", Netflix's development also entered the fast lane.
At this stage, there has not yet been a trend of American drama classics falling out.
Cable networks invest far less energy in TV series than in movies.
This starts from the 1970s.
During his tenure at ABC Television Network, Barry Diller found that it was often too expensive for television networks to purchase film broadcast rights from Hollywood, so he created the TV movie model. Compared with Hollywood movies, TV movies often have very high costs, even dozens of dollars. One can be produced for US$10,000, and the cycle is shorter. One can be released every month, and it can also have the feature of exclusive premiere.
Again, Hollywood is very conservative.
Once a business model emerges and proves effective, everyone flocks to it.
Especially with the rise of cable TV in recent years, in order to compete for audience resources, TV movies with many advantages have become even more prosperous. Many Hollywood stars who have been unable to succeed on the big screen can switch to filming TV movies. Even if the pay is not high, they can bring a lot of success. Not too popular, but there are enough opportunities to win.
However, in Simon's view, TV movies also have disadvantages that cannot be ignored.
The unsustainability of popularity.
After a TV movie is played a few times, the audience will almost become interested in it, and then they will switch to syndicated platforms and video tape channels to explore the residual value, and then they will gradually be forgotten. Relatively speaking, the popularity cycle is very short-lived.
However, phenomenal TV series are different.
For example, "The Sopranos", such as "House of Cards".
In my memory, "The Sopranos" was filmed for a full six seasons. In these six years, HBO has been developing rapidly because of this. Likewise, House of Cards has a similar effect.
Based on the information in his mind, Simon roughly judged that it was the emergence of American dramas such as "The Sopranos" in the late 1990s that squeezed the living space of TV movies and further led to the decline of this TV business model.
As for now.
Hollywood, or the American media industry, clearly hasn't realized this yet.
To put it simply, Hollywood has always been developing. What it was more than ten years ago is not what many people will see ten or twenty years later. Even in Simon's view, before the rise of blockbusters and CG special effects in the 1990s, the Hollywood film industry was not stable, and everyone was just trying their luck.
The same goes for the television industry.
Before the 1990s, the business model of TV and movies was already in place. In addition, TV networks had a strong platform monopoly and did not need to invest too much in TV programs to win over viewers. Therefore, they seemed not to be enterprising.
After the 1990s, cable TV completely emerged, and competition in the TV industry began to become fierce. At the same time, the rise of the Internet also threatened the TV industry, which made major TV manufacturers pay more attention to content development. Even TV production can reach movie level.
Now, the best way to make the USA TV network more prosperous is to subvert the traditional business model in advance.
In fact, Simon has already subverted the traditional American television industry through reality TV shows. This is only the second time.
Women's TV stations naturally need matching women's programs.
When it comes to female-related TV series, the first thing Simon thinks of is the phenomenal "Desperate Housewives."
In my memory, because of the American TV series "Desperate Housewives", the ABC TV network even had a trend of being called a women's TV network. This is how huge the influence of this American TV series is.
In Simon's view, the reason why "Desperate Housewives" is so popular is that it is close to life on the one hand, and it goes beyond life on the other hand.
The plot of this TV series is tortuous enough. This TV series may cover the twists and turns that most traditional housewives may not encounter in their lives. At the same time, the images of several housewives are also typical enough, covering most types of traditional American housewives. Finally, there are every bit of true feelings shown in this American drama.
Because he has the memories of more than ten people in his mind, and "Desperate Housewives" is a classic enough, Simon basically remembers most of the plots of this American TV series.
As for the details, Hollywood has never been short of screenwriters.
It's 1992, and Mark Cherry, the core screenwriter of the original version of "Desperate Housewives," is still an unknown figure, and Simon is in no mood to find him.
So I decided to catch the knife myself.
After dinner every night, I would chat with Janet and the little guy while holding a notebook and tapping away.
After a week of this, with Janet occasionally adding some details with great interest, the script for the first season was basically completed.
"It's a very interesting story, but it still doesn't feel exciting enough."
In the villa at Dume Point Manor, Janet commented like this while rocking Melbourne's cradle after finally finishing the scripts for the first season.
Simon sent an electronic draft of the script to Robert Egger in New York, put down his notebook and said, "I have a more exciting story, but I'm just worried that today's housewives won't be able to accept it."
Janet immediately became interested: "Tell me, I am also a housewife now."
Simon briefly sorted it out and said: "This is also the story of a woman. However, compared to several housewives on Wisteria Street who live a normal life, this woman is a mess. First of all, she is a drug dealer."
Janet patted the cradle with her little hand: "I like it, I must film it."
Simon saw his son's eyes suddenly widen due to his mother's sudden slap, and he looked like he was about to cry. He quickly reached out and picked up the little guy.
Janet also noticed this detail, and of course she did not admit her mistake, and curled her lips and said: "I will send this little annoying little person to Australia in a few days."
Simon gently comforted his son in his arms and just smiled.
It was his decision to let Veronica take care of Melbourne, and he couldn't refute himself now.
Janet was obviously aware of Simon's thoughts, and hummed, but without asking any more questions, she walked to the coffee table aside, took out a document from the shelf under the coffee table, and said, "New York just sent another document." One case, Leon Black and the others are planning to play a big game."
Feeling that the little guy's head was resting on his shoulder and he almost fell asleep, Simon continued to hold his son, walked gently beside the cradle, and asked casually: "What?"
"A comprehensive clothing company, called Limited Brands.inc (Limited Brands Company), focuses on sportswear, underwear and other businesses for teenagers and women. This is a listed company with a current market value of US$1.31 billion. Because 80 With the continuous expansion of the 1990s and the economic downturn in the past two years, the company's operations have also been in trouble. However, Leon and others are very optimistic about the Victoria's Secret underwear brand owned by this company, so they plan to launch a privatization and wholly-owned acquisition."
Simon hadn't reacted at first, but he remembered it after hearing Victoria's Secret.
Victoria's Secret.
Many years later, every year's Victoria's Secret show will be equivalent to the Super Bowl in the fashion industry. It was Victoria's Secret that brought together the top supermodels in the first decade of the new century.
After being briefly surprised, Simon was not too surprised that Apollo Management, headed by Leon Black, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, selected the parent company of Victoria's Secret.
Wall Street private equity firms all have their own areas of expertise.
Probably because of its relationship with Melisandre Company and Daenerys Entertainment, Apollo Management, which specializes in private equity investment, has a large number of acquisition targets in industries such as clothing and cosmetics. Simmons, which it acquired previously, became a shareholder last year. This is true for Estee Lauder.
Now, it is natural that Leon Black leads the team to target the parent company of Victoria’s Secret.
It has high-quality brand assets, tight cash flow has led to temporarily poor operating conditions, and the stock price is at a low level. This is also the main condition for a company to be targeted by private equity.
Thinking about this, Simon asked: "For US$1.31 billion, what is the approximate premium required for a wholly-owned acquisition?"
Janet rolled on the sofa like a kitten, flipping through the documents in her hands at random, and said: "Leon and the others are in contact with the management of LTD. If a good-faith acquisition can be achieved, the premium will be within 30%. The clothing industry is very competitive. It is fierce, unlike the new technology companies that are emerging now, so even if the invitation is made publicly, the premium will not be too high. If it is too high, Leon and others will give up on their own initiative."
LTD is obviously the abbreviation of Limited Brands.inc.
Simon did some mental calculations and found that with a 30% premium, a complete acquisition would cost approximately US$1.7 billion. Apollo Management Company would be able to come up with such a large amount of money, but this would undoubtedly mean a great risk: "What about after the acquisition?" , what are Leon and the others going to do?”
Janet said: "Like Simmons, after a few years of operation, after the company recovers, it can be relisted, or conduct a second private placement operation and sell it directly to other private equity companies."
Simon nodded: "The federal economy is at the bottom now. If Leon and the others confirm that this company has enough high-quality assets, it will indeed appreciate in value if they only hold it for a few years."
Janet heard other meanings in her husband's words. Her delicate body bounced up from the sofa, lying on the armrest of the sofa and looked over: "You don't have any other ideas, do you?"
Simon smiled and said, "Buy this company first and then talk about it."
Victoria's Secret's current catwalk shows are basically still in the fashion week display stage. According to the original timeline, it was not until the late 1990s that Victoria's Secret began to gradually build the Victoria's Secret catwalk show into an ornamental commercial event.
Perhaps, this very eye-catching show can be produced in advance.