Eric was talking about the IMG Group with Mark McCormack while watching the game on the court.
Anna Kournikova, who was highly anticipated by the audience, did not perform exceptionally after all, and was directly cleared out of the game by veteran Davenport in two rounds. The whole game only took two and a half hours.
In order to avoid the flow of people at the end of the game, Eric and his team left the game a few minutes earlier.
The deal was basically finalized, and Mark McCormack didn't intend to stay too long. The old man lived in Greenwich Village, so he boarded a yacht at the seaside pier north of the National Tennis Center and left soon.
Sending off Mark McCormack, IMG Group CEO Payne Forstmann invited Eric enthusiastically: "Mr. Williams, would you like to visit our training center? It is the one near the stadium just now." A building, Anna and the others will pass by later."
Eric listened to Penn Forstmann's eager tone that hinted at the temptation, and knew that he was worried about his position after IMG was acquired.
The CEO of a large company may seem glamorous to outsiders, but in fact, except for a small number of major shareholders who are also or are strong enough to be the CEO of the company, the others are just senior wage earners who may be fired by the board of directors at any time.
For the acquisition of IMG Group, Eric did have a whim. But since he did it, he has no intention of playing with the ticket.
Payne Forstmann started working for IMG a long time ago and has been in the position of group CEO for five years. Eric has learned about the financial situation of the IMG Group in recent years. Overall, Penn Forstmann's ability is still very good.
Although this acquisition was originally proposed by Cindy and Linda, according to the current acquisition plan, Eric will hold 80% of the shares of IMG Group, and it is impossible for the two women to participate in the management of the company in the short term .
Moreover, Eric is not like many other investors, who can't wait to replace the company's management after acquiring a company to eliminate the influence of the original shareholders. For a long time to come, Eric still hoped that Penn Forstmann could manage the company.
Nodding and agreeing to Penn Forstmann's invitation, Eric also signaled the other party to get into his car.
After the car started, Eric said to the middle-aged man beside him: "Payne, I don't plan to make any adjustments to the management of the company after the acquisition. If you have no other arrangements, I hope you can continue to serve as the IMG Group CEO."
Hearing Eric say this, Payne Forstmann, who had been anxious for some days, finally calmed down, and said quickly: "Mr. Williams, I am happy to continue working for you."
Eric nodded, but said: "But there is one thing I must declare in advance, although IMG is only a small company to me, but I personally have a strong opinion on the value of a company with a market value of 100 billion US dollars and a company worth 1 billion US dollars. The scale is exactly the same between companies. Either it has high growth potential, or it brings me direct benefits. So, you don't need to worry about IMG being insignificant to the entire Firefly system, and neither Because of this, I am lucky. Although I will not directly intervene in the management of the company, IMG Group will need to provide me with more detailed operational and financial reports every quarter."
Payne Forstmann also knew the ins and outs of Eric's acquisition of IMG Group in advance, and while he was envious of Cindy Crawford, it was not that he did not have some thoughts that the sky is high and the emperor is far away.
After all, although the agency brokerage industry has developed to the giant level, in the face of the huge size of the entire Firefly system, the IMG Group can only be regarded as a small sampan next to an aircraft carrier at best.
Hearing Eric's undisguised warning words at this time, Payne Forstmann couldn't help but tremble. At the same time, he realized that although the young man beside him was 20 years younger than him, the other party had created a huge business empire in just ten years. Anyone who dared to despise him because of factors such as age, That's utter stupidity.
Thinking of this, Payne Forstmann quickly said: "Mr. Williams, I assure you that IMG's future development will definitely be better than it is now."
"I know that IMG Group has achieved the ultimate in the industry at present, and it is not so easy to think about further development," Eric showed a satisfied expression, but continued: "So, I will not be like those Shareholders of listed companies also require you to make a certain amount of performance growth every fiscal year or even every quarter. As long as the reason is right, I can even tolerate the company’s poor financial situation for a certain period of time. Loyal enough to do that and you have enough autonomy at IMG, and if you don't, I'll have you out of this job in a minute."
The superior aura that Eric has unconsciously formed over the years has put a lot of pressure on Payne Forstmann. Although the air conditioner is on in the car, the middle-aged man still feels a thin layer of sweat oozing from his back.
Reassuring Eric again, Payne Forstmann also realized that it seemed easy for him to keep this job, but it was definitely not that easy.
Over the years, Eric has also realized more and more that if he wants to manage the increasingly large assets of the Firefly system, in the final analysis it is the management of people.
As long as you pick the right executive and ensure that the other party has enough talent and can fully execute his will, then the company run by this person is usually not too bad.
The decline of many outstanding companies often originates from a management that is out of control.
The pier just now was less than two kilometers away from the National Tennis Center, and Eric's car parked again outside a closed stadium near the National Tennis Center in a blink of an eye.
Everyone got out of the car together, and the bodyguard who got Eric's order to leave before the game also came back with a box, and walked into the stadium with Eric's group after getting off the car.
This sports center located in Queens holds dozens of tennis matches of various types every year. As the largest sports star agency in the world, it is not surprising that IMG has a large-scale training ground nearby. .
Eric walked around the training center briefly. Hearing Penn Forstmann's introduction, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "How long is Anna's contract?"
"Three years," Penn Forstmann replied skillfully, and then explained: "The company basically signs players around the age of 10, and the official professional age usually starts at 14. Ana's signing age is 11." years old, the contract period is ten years and ends in 2002."
"According to Anna's state, after three years, do you think it is still necessary for IMG to make her a key training object?"
"This depends on the situation," Payne Forstmann said: "If Anna's performance is still as mediocre as it is now, and we have better backup candidates, then IMG will definitely give up on her."
Eric nodded and said: "I remember that IMG's sports academy in Florida has been cultivating reserve talents for the company. Someone give me a copy of the information."
Payne Forstmann was a little confused, and said, "Mr. Williams, do you want it now?"
Eric raised his wrist and looked at his watch, nodded and said, "There is still some time today."
Payne Forstmann hurriedly ordered the assistant behind him to sort out the materials. After finishing the work, he saw Eric sitting on the bench next to the indoor tennis court, and walked over.
However, although the bench was enough for two people to sit, the rest of Eric's followers were standing, and Eric didn't intend to invite him, and Payne Forstmann only stood by the side, seeing that Eric took the The suitcase brought by the bodyguard opened and looked curiously, only to find that there were some various glasses in the box.
Eric picked it up with great interest, picked up a pair of blue-rimmed glasses, took a look, took off the lens, handed it to Catherine Neumann, who was quietly by his side, and said, "Hey, try .”
Compared with Eric's personal bodyguards, Penn Forstmann can always feel the strong presence of the OL girl who is beside Eric from the very beginning, even if the other party does not have it from the beginning to the end. Said a few words.
At this time, the girl obediently took over the frame without lenses and put it on, and Penn Forstmann couldn't help but feel a little envious.
As the head of an agency that controls hundreds of the world's best models, Payne Forstmann is used to seeing all kinds of top-quality vases, but the tall girl with good looks and figure beside Eric can't help him. The feeling has absolutely nothing to do with the vase. Payne Forstmann can even feel a faint sense of threat from the biological instinct from the other party, just like the black widow spider that insects may eat the male at any time.
Perhaps, only Eric Williams can subdue such a naturally tough woman.
Eric waited for Catherine Neumann to put on the glasses, looked them over carefully, shook his head in dissatisfaction, and changed frames of several other colors in succession, but none of them were satisfactory, and finally chose a slightly square He handed his black glasses frame to the girl and said, "It seems that this should be it."
Women, especially working women, tend to look more powerful if they wear black-rimmed glasses.
However, as Eric said, after Catherine Neumann put on the black-rimmed glasses, the original domineering temperament inexplicably weakened a lot. At least, everyone around including Eric Men feel that Catherine Neumann's whole person has softened at this time.
It is estimated that this is some kind of positive and negative effect.
Nodding his head in satisfaction, Eric closed the box on his lap and said to Catherine Neumann: "You will be like this from now on, how good it is, don't always have the aura that makes others want to jump into the river. Now, smile"
Catherine Neumann nodded obediently, the corners of her lips curled up, revealing a very standard smile.
Then everyone suddenly felt bad again.
Quickly waved his hand, Eric said helplessly: "Don't laugh, I can now be sure that your appearance during the interview is all fake. Forget it, that's all for today. Go back and tell Cindy that I'm done. Go see her in a few days."
Catherine Neumann said goodbye to Eric, turned around and walked out.
It wasn't until the sound of high-heeled shoes with almost no deviation in rhythm disappeared completely that Payne Forstmann reacted, opened his mouth to make a joke, but swallowed the words again.
As soon as the girl left, Penn Forstmann's assistant quickly walked over with a stack of thick documents, and the slightly weird atmosphere was broken.
After taking the folder from the assistant and handing it to Eric, Payne Forstmann asked again, "Why haven't Anna and the others come here yet?"
The assistant glanced at Eric carefully, and said: "Miss Kournikova just had a quarrel with Mr. Eisenbud. Mr. Eisenbud wanted her to go back to Florida for training, but Miss Kournikova wanted to go Relax in the Caribbean. Ms. Davenport sprained her ankle during the game, she still has a game next week, and was rushed to the medical center just after the game.”
Payne Forstmann's face was a little ugly, and he said, "Go and ask Anna to come over, and you must say hello to Mr. Williams."
The assistant responded and hurriedly left the training ground.
Eric flipped through the documents in his hand, and just smiled when he heard the conversation between Penn Forstmann and his assistant. After the two finished speaking, he pointed to his side and motioned for Penn Forstmann Sit down too.
Payne Forstmann sat down next to Eric, glanced at the information in Eric's hand, and said: "Our star detectives recommend many children to come here every year, but in fact, those who can really become top players There are not many good seedlings, and even if the qualifications are good, most of the children can hardly withstand long-term boring and heavy training. Therefore, even the students we directly sponsor, the proportion of students who can really grow into top professional players is very low. It’s not bad to have two or three out of a hundred people. Anna was born in a Russian sports family and started playing tennis at the age of 5, which is why she has achieved her current results.”
Eric listened to Payne Forstmann's words, just nodded slightly, and still looked at the information in his hand unhurriedly.
Counting from the time of Anna Kournikova's contract revealed by Penn Forstmann just now, in my memory, another tennis actress started to emerge just before and after the expiration of Anna Kournikova's contract.
With the strength of IMG in the industry and the coincidence of time, Eric can almost be sure that the other party should also be a contracted star under IMG.
Thinking of this, Eric stopped after less than a third of the documents in his hand, picked out one from the thick documents, read it again carefully, and handed it to Payne beside him Forstmann.
Payne Forstmann took it over and glanced at it in some confusion. The girl on the file was still from Russia, and her name was Maria Sharapova.
"Mr. Williams, is this?"
Eric continued to scroll down, while saying: "Equip this girl with the best team. As for whether she can become Anna's successor, it depends on her own efforts. In addition, it's time for her to get her teeth fixed. The teeth are not very nice, I don’t like steel braces, it’s better to use invisible ones.”
Payne Forstmann immediately remembered something about Eric. The girl named Giselle that IMG sent him was now a first-line supermodel. Later, Eric also passed Cindy Crow Fu stuffed another girl into IMG.
However, thinking about it this way, Payne Forstmann didn't show any strangeness on his face, nodded seriously, and said, "I'll let someone do it."
As he spoke, he looked at the information in his hand. This girl named Sharapova was just 12 years old this year. Although she still had some small freckles on her face, she was considered a standard beauty. It is estimated that she will be raised by IMG as a little princess in the future, and she should soon grow into a real little beauty.
Even if Payne Forstmann looked normal, Eric could probably guess what the other person was thinking, but he didn't intend to explain anything. Eric really doesn't have any special hobbies for little girls, he's just more interested in nurturing them. But starting from the girl back then, some people seem to have decided on certain things. If it is explained, it is estimated that it will only become darker and darker.
Skip this topic directly, Eric was chatting with Penn Forstmann about other things, and the mobile phone he carried suddenly rang.
Eric glanced at the caller ID, it was Yahoo CEO Ian Grenier calling, so he answered it casually: "Ian, it's me."
On the other side of the phone, Ian Grenier was talking quickly, and Eric listened patiently, but his expression gradually turned a little ugly.
Ian Grenier brought him bad news. Microsoft, which was negotiating a settlement with the Department of Justice, suddenly contacted Yahoo's management, saying that Washington was concerned about the browser pre-installation contract signed by Yahoo and Microsoft. An objection was raised, requiring Ian Grenier to go to Washington for questioning in person to explain the suspicion of monopoly implied in the contract.
At the beginning of Yahoo and Microsoft's cooperation on browsers for five consecutive years, the Federal Department of Justice did not make any statement. Now that it suddenly raises objections, it is not difficult to imagine that this matter is likely to be a secret move by Microsoft, which is dissatisfied with Eric.