In the next two weeks, with the assistance of the Morgan Stanley acquisition team, Firefly successfully completed Disney’s stock repurchase work. On February 5, 1992, Disney officially announced its privatization and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Firefly Pictures. .
During this period of time, Universal Pictures controlled by Japan's Matsushita consortium signed an agreement with Michael Eisner, who had just resigned from Disney, and appointed Michael Eisner as the CEO of Universal Pictures. Simberg was fired.
Sid Simberg has been in control of Universal Pictures for nearly two decades, and his influence in Universal Pictures is deeply rooted, and he has discovered a large number of famous filmmakers such as Spielberg. Like Sony, the Matsushita consortium of Japan, because of concerns about the rebound of the American people, in the two years after the completion of the acquisition in 1990, the degree of decentralization was even greater than that of Sony for Columbia. Panasonic basically did not participate in any decision-making of Universal Pictures.
Although Sid Simberg is not like Columbia's Peter Guber who only cares about his own spending and has no intention of running a film company, but as a businessman, the performance of Universal Pictures has not improved in the past two years, but has fallen sharply signs, while Sid Schinberg himself made a lot of profits by using Universal's resources.
Panasonic executives realized that if this continues, the acquisition of Universal Pictures 1√ will be their biggest failure. In order not to let the situation continue to deteriorate, they seized the good opportunity of Michael Eisner's resignation from Disney and began to substantially adjust Universal Pictures. management.
Because of Sid Sinberg's deep-rooted influence, Michael Eisner's process of taking office was not easy at all.
"In the week since Michael Eisner took office, 14 executives at Universal Pictures were fired." Eric pushed a newspaper in front of Jeffrey Katzenberg who had just walked into the office.
Anyone who knows Katzenberg. We all know that he is a very arrogant person. But at this time, Katzenberg sat opposite Eric with a smile on his face, at least on the surface with a respectful look.
After taking the newspaper handed over by Eric and quickly browsing the news on one side, Katzenberg said: "It is necessary to do this. Many high-level executives at Universal have followed Sid Sinberg for more than ten years. If If Michael doesn’t do this, then within half a year, he will have to leave Universal the way he went. And Panasonic has to honestly invite Sid Schinberg back.”
Eric was holding a pen, writing and drawing on the manuscript paper in front of him as if nothing had happened, and asked casually: "Disney now has a lot of direct descendants promoted by Michael, what do you think I should do?"
Although Eric asked casually, Katzenberg cheered up. For more than half a month, the CEO position of Disney has been vacant. Many people are guessing who the next CEO of Disney will be. Rumors The uproar of the spread, it is said that Eric will personally serve as the CEO of Disney. It is said that the successor is the current president of Disney, Frank Wells. There are even rumors that Firefly will appoint Walt Disney's nephew, Roy Disney, as the new CEO.
but. However, Katzenberg got some hints from Barry Diller early on. During this period of time, he has been quietly making relevant preparations, and he has not jumped up and down like some people.
The biggest problem Disney is currently facing is that at the beginning of the acquisition, Disney management passed the 'Golden Parachute' plan with a total compensation amount of up to 500 million US dollars, which means that within two years, it is impossible for Firefly to make too much progress on Disney's top management. big change.
"Eric, the situation between Disney and Universal is very different. Universal has been run by Sid Sinberg for 20 years, and it is completely a piece of iron. At the same time, Sid Sinberg was also a major shareholder of Universal. Well, if Panasonic moved Sid Schinberg, it was equivalent to moving the interests of many people around the world. But Disney is different. Michael did personally promote a lot of people, but Disney is not his world alone, plus All of Michael's focus is on Universal right now, and he won't have too much experience to mess with Disney. As long as we continue to follow the established development trajectory of Disney, there will be no problems, and I think even if someone can't help but want to If you make trouble, Firefly can still get the severance compensation for one or two people, right?"
Eric looked at the eloquent Katzenberg and asked with a smile, "You know?"
Katzenberg was taken aback for a moment, nodded slightly embarrassed, and said, "Barry gave me some hints."
"Since this is the case, then many things can be discussed." Eric put down the pen he had been playing with, leaned on the back of the chair and smiled: "The reason why I am talking to you now is because I I've been a little bit indecisive, and I don't know if handing Disney over to you is going to be a disaster."
Katzenberg shook his head confidently: "I promise absolutely not."
"Jeffrey, you know, this kind of promise has no effect. There is no problem with your personal work ability. Over the years, out of 11 films you have directed and produced, 9 of them have achieved profitability. This is absolutely a miracle in Hollywood. .And Barry personally recommended you to me, but, well, you know what's wrong with you?"
Katzenberg's lips moved, and Eric didn't force him to say it himself, and continued: "I heard that you forced the employees of the studio to hold a meeting at seven o'clock on Sunday morning more than once, and many people showed up in pajamas to express Protest. Also, your relationship with Roy Disney of the Disney family is terrible. If you just run the production department, this situation will not affect too much, but if you are the ceo of disney, I can't imagine All employees don't like your style of conduct, what kind of dire consequences will it cause?"
"I can change it, Eric, and give me three months," Katzenberg said without hesitation.
Eric raised his eyebrows and asked, "Three months?"
Katzenberg nodded again: "It only takes three months. If I can't change it within three months, then I will go out."
Eric looked at Katzenberg's expression, and his heart was almost relieved, for a person with extremely strong self-control ability. Now that such a thing has been said. Then maybe not three months. Katzenberg could make a difference.
Eric stretched out three fingers and said, "Okay, just three months, but I still want to remind you that apart from Michael's 30 million severance compensation, Firefly will not pay another penny for the golden parachute agreement. It is a test for you, you need to live in peace with the old man left behind by Michael. And you must not affect Disney's business, otherwise you will be considered a failure."
Katzenberg hesitated for a moment, but nodded quickly.
Eric smiled with satisfaction and said: "We will talk about your treatment later. Now, you can talk about your thoughts. Since Barry has already disclosed the news to you, I think you will definitely do it." Are you ready for it?"
"I want Pixar," Katzenberg said succinctly.
After the success of "Toy Story", basically all Hollywood film companies saw the potential of 3D animation films. Since "Toy Story" was released, Pixar Studios has faced several poaching spree. Someone even contacted John Lasseter. Fortunately, Eric took appropriate measures, and Pixar was not injured.
Before "Toy Story", animated films had been monopolized by Disney. Now that Disney was acquired by Firefly, in order to maintain the original monopoly position, Katzenberg now proposes this condition as normal.
Eric said: "You don't need it, starting from the next animated film, all Pixar's works will be handed over to Disney for distribution, and at the same time, the brand management and derivative product development of Pixar animation will be operated by Disney."
"Eric, I read some information about Pixar, don't you think that Pixar's efficiency is too low?"
"One animated film in two years is indeed a bit low, but Pixar is following the high-quality line, and, as the president of Disney Studios, you should know that even if you want to make an animated film, it will not be fast."
"But at least one animated film a year should be fine, right? Computer production is much faster than manual production?"
Eric remembered that in the original time and space, DreamWorks Animation founded by Katzenberg was famous for its high output, but apart from "Shrek", DreamWorks Animation did not produce a few high-quality works, which may be the result of too much emphasis on quantity.
"Jeffrey, isn't Disney's animation studio also making animations? Together, the two studios can be said to average one movie per year. By the way, speaking of Disney's animation studio, you must also I saw the potential of computer animation, so I like to use the three-year transition period to digitize the original hand-drawn method of Disney Animation Studios."
"You mean to fully switch to 3D animation production, but now Disney has 600 hand-drawn animators. If it is reformed, these people will..."
Eric shrugged: "Jeffrey, if any industry can't follow the trend, it can only face elimination. I gave three years, which is already very generous. They have enough time to receive training. If they still can't If I get used to it, then I can only say sorry."
In the original time and space, "Toy Story" was a great success, directly declaring the decline of Disney's hand-drawn animation. Except for the subsequent "Lion King", Disney has never appeared a 2D hand-drawn animation movie that topped the box office list.
"Okay, I'll arrange it," Katzenberg promised with a nod.
After this conversation, Eric quickly announced the appointment of Katzenberg. Although this appointment made many people dissatisfied, compared to Michael Eisner's hardships in going to Universal, Disney is still in general. It's calm.
Many people were worried that Katzenberg would follow the original behavior after taking over as CEO of Disney, and even prepared to resign in the face of high pressure. However, within a week, many people discovered that Katzenberg's management style It's changed a lot, I'm not so unscrupulous, I even say 'thank you', which is a big surprise. Because Katzenberg never said 'thank you' to people at work. To explain it in his own words, he was not impolite, but he was unwilling to waste this time.
After the appointment of a new CEO, Eric finally felt a little more relaxed and didn't need to put too much energy on Disney. Although the acquisition has been initially completed, the remaining business handover and integration will take at least half a year. These things, It is still the responsibility of the Morgan Stanley team. For this professional acquisition team, Eric is not only relieved, but even coveted. It is a pity that Firefly Investment cannot afford such a team now.
"Not only can't afford it, but we don't need these," Chris said while eating dinner in the restaurant of the Angle Manor.
After completing this acquisition, Chris will also return to New York. Eric specially practiced it for Chris at Pointe Manor. In addition to Chris, Chris’s girlfriend Emily Brydon also appeared in Los Angeles because of work. the scene.
"I'm just saying that although I can't afford it now, I will definitely use it sooner or later," Eric retorted.
Chris smiled and said: "Maybe, Eric, what are you going to do next, our funds are less than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, which is not enough to pay off the debts left by Disney, and I don't recommend you to do it. Debt settlement. In the process of business operation, an appropriate degree of debt is necessary. Compared with the current market value of Firefly, 2 billion US dollars is only equivalent to a debt ratio of about 25%, which is the lowest among the seven major Hollywood film companies .”
Eric thought for a while, and said: "Actually, I have also considered it. Since I can't pay off the debt, let's invest. Hey, it's just a pity. The Soviet Union collapsed last year, and we didn't take the opportunity to make a fortune."
"Don't even think about it, the fat meat of the Soviet Union. It is not something we can get our hands on. This is a world-wide plunder. In order to prevent the possible attachment of the Soviet Union, the governments of European and American countries are behind this incident. "" Chris said, couldn't help swallowing, took a sip of the red wine in front of him, and continued: "In just half a year, the ruble has depreciated by 110,000 times, and the Soviet Union accumulated nearly 280,000 times in the eighty years. Trillions of dollars of wealth are looted by people with just a few hundred million dollars, and it is exciting to think about it.”
Sitting next to Eric, Jennifer Connelly, who has been quietly acting like a lady, couldn't help asking: "Hey, what are you talking about, why can't I understand?"
Chris looked at the beautiful woman on the opposite side. Although his girlfriend was by his side, he still couldn't help showing off with a man's instinct: "I'm talking about the largest collective robbery in human history." (To be continued...)