"Judging from the current situation, it is impossible for other buyers to take over our film company in the short term." Nobuyuki Idei shook his head, rejecting Howard Stringer's proposal, and said, "What's more, if you do this, Sony The conflict with the firefly is completely irreconcilable."
Howard Stringer fell silent for a moment.
A series of counterattacks by the Firefly system during this period made Howard Stringer fully aware of the opponent's strength.
It’s not just that the media business has no power to fight back against Firefly. In the fundamental electronics industry of the group, although Sony itself has a very strong technical accumulation, it needs to consolidate in the field of portable music players and mobile phones that have been working hard. In both the manufacturing field, companies with the Firefly system have shown a suppressive attitude towards Sony.
In addition, although the Firefly Group only released rumors to block Sony Pictures' films through marketing channels, Sony Group's electronic products are also inseparable from a large number of advertisements if they want to be well promoted in North America. The Firefly system has already controlled nearly half of the TV network media resources in North America. This is also something Sony needs to worry about and fear. After all, it is impossible for any multinational group to ignore the huge North American market.
Thinking back to the last time he received the call from Eric Williams, he still felt that the other party was too young and frivolous, and Howard Stringer felt a burst of self-mockery and regret in his heart.
If time could be turned back, he would never offend Eric Williams just for a mere script.
Now, in order to avoid the overall deterioration of the relationship between the two parties, it is almost inevitable for Sony to compromise with Firefly. After a week of discussions, Sony's board of directors basically made a decision to abandon the film business. But there must be someone who needs to take responsibility for this matter. There is no doubt about who this person is.
Noticing Howard Stringer's slumped expression, Idei Nobuyuki also sighed.
Because the two parties have a very compatible corporate management philosophy, he has always admired Howard Stringer very much, and even hopes that the other party will become his successor in the future.
However, this matter is definitely out of the question now.
After pondering for a moment, Nobuyuki Idei still said to the assistant who was waiting for orders: "Tell Eric Williams that it will be at noon on Saturday. I will treat him to dinner in Los Angeles. You can prepare in advance over there."
…
The time has entered September, the summer file has begun to wrap up, and the autumn file of TV dramas is coming.
At the same time, the major studios have basically completed the films scheduled for the end of the year, and will start their promotional campaigns one after another.
Early on Saturday morning, Eric, Katzenberg and other Firefly Group executives gathered in a screening room in Firefly Studios to watch the finished film of "Teddy Bear".
This 3D animation and live-action film that uses motion capture technology has been confirmed for the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the year. It will be released on November 13, a week earlier than MGM's "Mission Impossible 3".
As a plush toy with a long history, the teddy bear appeared more than one hundred years ago. In other words, even the forty or fifty-year-old high-level executives present here may have a childhood memory of teddy bears. Therefore, although they have already read the script, when everyone watched a certain fluffy bear unscrupulously lose morals through the big screen, they still inevitably felt various kinds of collapse.
After the 90-minute film was played, the lights were turned on. In the projection room, other than Eric, the other senior executives of the company had strange expressions on their faces. They were obviously holding back their smiles. They probably felt that this kind of occasion was not suitable for them. Too presumptuous.
Eric is very satisfied with the finished film. Compared with the original version, he made some adjustments to some overly localized details of the script, so that it can appear more friendly to overseas audiences.
With his legs crossed in relaxation, Eric looked at the other people in the auditorium and said with a smile, "So, what do you think?"
Everyone didn't speak for a while.
In the end, Robert Thompson, president of the Firefly distribution department in charge of Bowei International Distribution Group, spoke first: "Eric, isn't the scale of this movie a little too big?"
"R rating shouldn't be a problem, right?" Eric asked with a smile, and said again: "Also, the theme of this film is generally positive."
"I mean," says Robert Thompson, "it seems like a bit too much vandalism for the teddy bear to be accepted by the audience, which is, after all, a very popular plush toy."
Eric said: "Bob, you probably want to say that the film may have a bad influence on children, but in fact, the audience of this film is not children, but adults. So, as long as it is clearly explained in the publicity stage We don’t need to consider the content and positioning of the film. As for some possible criticisms, in all fairness, this can just increase the topicality of the film.”
On the other side, Frank Wells nodded slightly, but immediately added: "Eric, we must not allow this film to be associated with the Disney brand."
Eric agreed, "That's for sure."
Everyone discussed it carefully, and roughly determined a release plan. Everyone left the screening hall one after another. Today is the weekend, and most of them went home directly to rest.
Eric and Katzenberg were the last to leave the screening hall, left the office building together, and walked side by side on the concrete corridor shaded by the green trees in the park.
After casually chatting about some of the company's recent affairs, Eric said: "Jeffrey, I have already made an appointment with Nobuyuki Idei for lunch at noon, and I will probably be able to get Columbia Pictures this time. However, my idea is that this This acquisition was solely funded by Firefly Investment, and Columbia Pictures will maintain an independent operating strategy in the future."
Katzenberg's expression flashed a little disappointed when he heard the words, but this was actually within his expectations. The Firefly Group itself is already large enough. If Columbia Pictures is integrated into the group system, it will definitely need to be carried out. Related business integration, doing so will only lose the little vitality left by Columbia Pictures, and even become a dispensable part of the Firefly Group.
By remaining a stand-alone operation, Columbia Pictures could remain one of the Big Seven studios in Hollywood and have a chance to re-emerge like MGM.
"This is actually not bad. If we add another Colombia to our side, it will definitely become bloated. Maintaining independent operations will allow the Firefly system to gain more market share as a whole."
"It's good that you can understand," Eric nodded with a smile.
Although he relies heavily on Katzenberg, he will not let the power of his executives be too concentrated, which is not beneficial to both parties.
The two chatted and came to the office park of the digital field together. Although it was the weekend, there were still many employees working overtime in the office LOFT of the digital field.
I stayed in the office of the digital field for about an hour, checked the progress of some post-production special effects of "Iron Man", and saw that the time was about the same. Eric and Katzenberg said goodbye, left Firefly Studios, and drove to Culver City .
Half an hour later, outside a high-end restaurant in Culver City.
Although he was very annoyed, Howard Stringer squeezed out a smile when he saw Eric get off the car, and walked up quickly: "Eric, good afternoon."
"Hello, Howard," Eric shook hands with the other party politely, then looked at Bill Michanik next to Howard Stringer, and greeted actively: "Bill, hello."
With a bit of respect in his tone, Bill Michanik reached out to shake Eric and said, "Hello, Mr. Williams."
Howard Stringer waited for the two to finish greeting, and made a gesture of invitation to Eric: "Let's go in, Izui is already waiting for you."
Eric didn't care about Idei Nobuyuki's pretentious gesture, and walked into the restaurant with Howard Stringer.
Walking into a private room in the restaurant, it was naturally another polite greeting.
Eric originally hoped that Chris would come over today, but the AOL stock distribution plan in charge of Morgan Stanley has reached a critical moment.
Next Monday, Firefly will officially start selling 15% of AOL shares that Morgan Stanley will be responsible for distributing. Although this batch of shares has been basically subscribed before then, Chris still has a lot of details this weekend. The work in this area needs to be negotiated with Morgan Stanley, so there is no way to come to Los Angeles.
After ordering lunch, the waiters were dismissed, and there were only four Erics left in the box.
Nobuyuki Idei had just specifically ordered the waiter to serve the food later, and when the other party left, he cut to the chase and said, "Eric, Sony is willing to transfer the film company in hand, but the offer you made is definitely not acceptable. According to Sony Pictures According to the current market value of the industry, Firefly needs to pay at least 5 billion US dollars, and you must also assume the existing debts of Sony Pictures."
Eric smiled and did not respond to Nobuyuki Idei's topic. Instead, he changed the topic and said, "Idei, if the news I got is correct, Sony should be launching a purely digital MD player soon, right?"
Idei Nobuyuki froze for a moment, but nodded truthfully. Since Eric said it at this time, there is no need to hide it.
Since the release of the first generation of Fireflyer, Sony has actually started the research and development of digital music players internally. With Sony's technical strength, it does not even take half a year to develop a similar digital music player.
So far, the global monthly shipments of Firefly Electronics’ second-generation Fireflyer players have remained stable at more than 2 million units, and last month’s shipments even exceeded 2.5 million units. Although the five major record companies have been trying to curb the proliferation of digital pirated music through various means in recent months, everyone knows that the digitization of music has become an inevitable trend.
Therefore, Sony has decided to release its own digital music player as soon as possible, which is what Eric said MD player. This player originally used a mini-disk playback carrier. Because it also specializes in the miniature player market, Sony did not plan to use a new name, but let its own digital music player use the same name.
Compared with the Fireflyer player of Firefly Electronics, Sony's MD will use the unique ATRAC audio format, which not only has very strict anti-piracy restrictions, but also is exclusive to Sony Pictures.
With Nobuyuki Idei's confirmation, Eric continued with a smile on his face, "Idei, you know, Firefly Electronics has applied for a complete set of patents related to digital music players a long time ago. Although your MD player uses The only audio format that can circumvent some patents of Firefly Electronics in audio decoding. But for other parts, such as system control chips, micro-hard disk storage technology, software operating systems, etc., Sony wants to bypass the patent barriers of Firefly Electronics to realize digital music It is simply impossible to have the functions that the player should have. As long as Firefly Electronics is willing, through patent litigation, we can completely prevent MD from entering the North American and even European markets.”
Before Nobuyuki Idei spoke, Howard Stringer couldn't help but said: "Eric, you are a monopoly, and this is illegal."
Eric directly ignored Howard Stringer's words, but kept staring at Nobuyuki Idei.
Nobuyuki Idei was obviously much calmer than Howard Stringer, and said, "Eric, since you mentioned this, does it mean that Firefly is willing to license this part of the patent to Sony?"
Eric leaned back on the chair behind him, nodded slightly, and said, "As long as Sony can offer a sufficient price, of course."
Howard Stringer, who was still looking angry just now, heard Eric's words, and suddenly showed an expression on his face that he thought he heard it wrong. Firefly Electronics is willing to transfer the patent of the digital music player
Idei Nobuyuki's eyes also began to waver.
It has been more than a year since Firefly Electronics released the Fireflyer player last year. As an electronic product with low technical content, if it is not because of strict patent technology restrictions, in the face of such a fast-growing MP3 player market, each Big electronics manufacturers have long been eager to launch their own products.
However, because the Firefly system firmly holds a full set of technical patents for MP3 players, no company other than Nokia has obtained the relevant patent authorization, so it appears that the Fireflyer player is now almost monopolizing the market.
Sony's MD digital player is indeed, as Eric said, unable to avoid the patent barriers of Firefly Electronics.
Originally, Sony was even ready to wrestle with Firefly Electronics, just like the wrangling lawsuit between Apple and Samsung on smartphones in the original time and space, although in the end Samsung barely escaped the fate of being banned from the US market. But in fact, before Samsung, HTC Android phones, which rose earlier, were excluded from the North American market step by step due to infringement of Apple's smartphone patents, which eventually led to even surpassing Apple's market share. Apple's HTC mobile phone declined rapidly, and eventually it could only be reduced to a third-rate mobile phone manufacturer.
Therefore, in the lawsuit with Firefly Electronics, the possibility of Sony losing the lawsuit is actually very high.
At this time, Idei Nobuyuki could no longer calm down when he heard that he could get the patent of digital music player from Firefly Electronics.
You know, the current monthly shipment of Fireflyer 2 is only 2.5 million units, which can bring more than 800 million US dollars in sales revenue to Firefly Electronics every month. It is conceivable that in the next few years, the annual market size of digital music players will be absolutely It can easily reach more than tens of billions of dollars, which is a market that any electronics manufacturer will be envious of.