Eric didn't know about Howard Stringer's secret tricks, and his answer was completely based on following the "political correctness" rules of the United States under the influence of the surrounding environment over the years.
In a social environment like North America, it’s not just racial discrimination, there are many things you can do, but you must never say that the person who speaks from the bottom of his heart is either drunk or an idiot. And, even if you do, don't admit it.
Clinton, who is still troubled by the zipper door, is undoubtedly a "master" in this regard. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and was directly given the evidence.
Saying goodbye to Nobuyuki Idei, Eric didn't go far, and the car turned a street corner and asked the driver to stop.
After a while, Bill Michanik drove over, stopped not far behind Eric's car, got out of the car and trotted over.
The driver got out of the car and opened the door. Bill Michanik sat in carefully and greeted respectfully, "Mr. Williams?"
"Call me Eric," Eric smiled. Bill Michanik's age is about the same as Katzenberg's. The respect from people like Charnick didn't feel awkward at all, but he just cut to the chase and said, "After the transaction is completed, do you plan to stay?"
Bill Michanik nodded quickly: "Of course, if possible."
"I have seen your work resume at Disney. At the beginning, Disney's animated film video tape distribution business was done by you. Jeffrey also thought that Columbia Pictures could continue to be handed over to you. So, during this period, you can Think carefully about Columbia's future development ideas. In the future, this film company will still maintain an independent operation, and I hope that after the transaction is completed, Columbia Pictures can get on the right track as soon as possible."
Bill Michanik was a little excited. Based on what he knew about Eric from what he saw and heard in Hollywood, if Eric didn't plan to merge Columbia Pictures into the Firefly Group, then his future power would definitely be much greater . As long as Columbia Pictures can recover in the future, he will definitely be able to become one of the veritable seven heads.
Trying to keep himself calm, Bill Michanik asked, "W... Eric, what about these recent things?"
Eric thought for a while, and said: "The news of Firefly's acquisition of Sony Pictures should be announced soon. However, the projects over there, which have been produced, will continue in accordance with the normal announcement process. Others, whether they have already started The filming is still in the preparatory stage, all are suspended, you go back and make a list for me."
The recent period is a critical period for Sony Pictures to determine its production and distribution plans for the whole of next year.
However, Bill Michanik also knows what kind of attitude he should show at this time. What's more, the business scale of Sony Pictures is really not worth mentioning in the face of the other film companies in the Firefly system. There is not much to lose.
As long as he gets resources from the Firefly system in the future, Bill Michanik is still very confident that he can start Columbia Pictures again. Therefore, he nodded without thinking, "I'll do it when I get back."
Eric was very satisfied with Bill Michanik's attitude, and took out another business card and handed it over, saying, "That's all for now, this is my business card, you can call me anytime if you need anything."
Bill Michanik took the business card and put it away. Seeing that Eric had no other orders, he left.
…
The news that Firefly invested in the acquisition of Sony Group's film business was officially announced on Wednesday of the second week.
Almost ten years have passed, and Americans are obviously worried about the aggressive expansion of Japanese companies into North America.
The "Los Angeles Times" directly used "Hollywood regains lost ground" as a headline, as if to say that Americans have once again taken the entirety of Hollywood into their hands.
However, while some people were rejoicing, others also realized that after completing the acquisition of Sony's film business, the Firefly system would control four of the seven major Hollywood film companies. It hasn't happened yet, and in addition to Eric's strong posture towards Sony Pictures just because of a script during this period, other forces in Hollywood will inevitably have various concerns.
As a result, the media's talk that the Firefly system may form a monopoly in Hollywood has also become rampant for a while.
I don’t know whether it was really under the pressure of public opinion or someone was obstructing it. One week after the news was announced, when Firefly Investment submitted a transaction application to the US Department of Justice to acquire Sony’s film business, it soon received a subpoena from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Investigation Bureau. , requiring Firefly Investment executives to attend the hearings related to this transaction and explain the possible monopoly suspicions involved in the acquisition of Sony Pictures by Firefly Investment.
Firefly Studios.
In the studio of "Gravity", other crew members are busy working on the next shot. Eric is sitting at the console, looking at the subpoena sent to Chris by the Ministry of Justice with great interest. Chris, who rushed over, said: "So, our Mr. President still thinks that he doesn't have enough troubles, or he thinks that he will be impeached and step down soon, and he plans to have one last addiction?"
The zipper door that broke out from the first half of the year not only did not subside, but showed an intensifying trend.
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives has started the judicial impeachment voting process for Clinton, intending to impeach him on charges of obstruction of justice and alleged perjury. Once the vote is passed, Clinton will become the third president in American history to be impeached.
At this critical moment, Clinton is definitely the most important public supporter, and offending the Firefly Group will not do him any good. Therefore, this subpoena seems quite puzzling.
With a smile on his face, Chris said: "Before I came here, I spoke with Janet Reynolds on the phone. She hinted that the Anti-Monopoly Investigation Bureau received anonymous materials, and someone from the Republican Party put pressure on this matter, so they But in fact, this hearing is basically just a show, if the Clinton administration wants to target Firefly, you will receive the subpoena instead of me.”
After hearing Chris' explanation, Eric didn't bother to get to the bottom of it. When many things involve politics, it will become a messy book. Moreover, even with Sony Pictures, Firefly's market share in Hollywood is definitely not as high as Exxon Mobil in the energy industry or AT-T in the telecommunications industry in their respective fields. Even if someone deliberately finds fault, for this This acquisition adds some twists and turns, and the final result will not change.
Returning the subpoena in his hand to Chris, Eric remembered what he said just now, and suddenly asked curiously: "By the way, who is Janet Reynolds?"
Chris took the subpoena, put it in a notepad and put it in his briefcase, and explained: "Attorney General, she also hopes that you can go to Washington next Tuesday to attend the hearing together on the phone."
Eric shook his head immediately: "I can't stand that kind of occasion, you can go by yourself."
Chris smiled and said: "Then I will go by myself. In addition, Yahoo's latest IPO plan has been completed. The company's original stock split into five, and the total share capital has been expanded to 1,082.5 million shares. The number of new shares issued is 150 million , the issue price is tentatively set at US$33. According to this issue price, Morgan Stanley’s valuation of Yahoo is about US$35.7 billion. The proportion of new shares issued is equivalent to 13.85% of the total issued share capital, and the scale of funds raised is US$4.905 billion .I have sent the detailed proposal to Ms. Haynes, please take a look at it when you have time."
Speaking of which, Firefly Investment and Morgan Stanley have already started discussing Yahoo's IPO plan at the beginning of this year, but with the continuous changes in the Nasdaq market situation, the original plan has long been left behind by everyone. Yahoo's final listing date has been determined at the end of November, and there are only two months left from now. Therefore, this plan is basically the final plan.
Digesting the information Chris just gave, Eric suddenly sighed softly: "It's about 5 billion dollars again."
Chris smiled and said, "Why, you're starting to lose confidence too?"
Eric nodded honestly. The more he knew about the North American stock market, the more worried he was about the prospect of Yahoo's IPO.
America Online was able to cash out successfully. In Eric's view, it can be said that it was a good time to catch up.
The Nasdaq index successfully broke through 2000 points, coupled with Morgan Stanley’s advocacy of the prospects of the Nasdaq index, and the return of capital from Southeast Asia and Russia requires investment opportunities, which enabled Firefly Investment to successfully complete the reduction of AOL stocks.
However, according to the current growing momentum of the Nasdaq market, the Nasdaq index is likely to quickly break through the 2,500-point mark by the end of the year.
Cashing out of AOL stocks between 2000 and 2500 is relatively good, but as the bubble in technology stocks further deepens, when the Nasdaq enters the range of 2500 to 3000, Wall Street investors will once again raise their vigilance against stock crashes and worry.
Under such circumstances, there are still many uncontrollable factors for Yahoo to achieve 100% listing.
Eric even worried that Yahoo's listing would really be the last straw that crushed the technology stock bubble, as some media said. After all, even though Yahoo's valuation is far from Eric's expectations, in fact, no matter from any perspective, Yahoo's $35.7 billion IPO valuation has serious bubble elements.
With the successful reduction of AOL stock, Eric is now more and more able to understand one thing, that is, no matter how high the market value is, it is imaginary, and only the cash in hand is the real thing.
Chris could probably guess what Eric was thinking, and comforted him: "During this period, my team has also conducted several researches on Yahoo's IPO risk with Morgan Stanley. Starq’s overall market trend will not change much, and the possibility of Yahoo’s IPO failure is very low.”
"I'm now worried that Yahoo itself will be an 'accident' affecting the Nasdaq index."
Chris obviously also had this kind of worry, he hesitated for a while, and said: "Actually, it's okay if Yahoo's IPO really fails. We have already obtained 10 billion US dollars by reducing our holdings in AOL, minus the expenses for the acquisition of Sony's movie business. The remaining part is also enough to support Yahoo's continued expansion in the next few years."
Eric also felt that he was a little too concerned about gains and losses. He had experienced too many successes, and failing once was nothing at all.
The two chatted for a few more words. Not far away, Nicole Frank signaled to Eric that the next shot was ready, and Chris stood up and said, "Then I'll go to Culver City first, and Sony and I Representatives of the group will also have a meeting."
In recent days, the Firefly Investment team has been auditing the assets and liabilities of Sony Pictures, which is why Chris came to Los Angeles.
Eric got up, sent Chris towards the outside of the studio, and half-jokingly said: "How about taking you to some parties at night to relax?"
"Oh, forget it," Chris shook his head, and said, "Also, I will probably fly to San Francisco early at night, and Firefly Electronics will hold a board meeting tomorrow."
"Speaking of this, Sony should contact them to discuss technology patent exchange. You can tell Victor and them again that this time they must get the micro-camera module technology. Last time Victor went to Japan and returned without success. , if they dare to screw things up again this time, my boss doesn’t mind screwing up their jobs.”
Chris thought for a while and said, "Actually, I'm a little reluctant. Once Sony obtains the technical patent for digital music players, their MD may become the biggest threat to Fireflyer players."
The two walked to the door of the studio, and there were a bunch of people waiting behind them. Eric didn't mean to send Chris to the parking lot in person, but stopped and continued: "As long as Sony can only use its own ATRAC audio The format is fine. With Sony’s internal problems, I don’t think they can promote one audio format alone, and it is still an audio format with strict copyright restrictions. You know, we have won the MP2 patent for further research and development to Fireflyer It took five years for the player. What's more, Firefly Electronics also needs an opponent. If they are still surpassed by Sony even though they are superior in all aspects, then I will accept my fate and fire all those guys Lose."
Chris realized that Eric was resolute, so he stopped persuading him, but with a smile on his face, he said, "Do you need me to tell them the exact words?"
"I'm the boss, and I have to ensure my image of being close to the people." Eric shook his head immediately, with a righteous face on his face: "Of course you will be the bad guy."
Chris knew that Eric was joking, and nodded and smiled: "Okay, I'll be a bad cop."