When Eric and Elizabeth arrived outside Fox's headquarters in Century City, well-informed media reporters had already surrounded the gate. It is estimated that only a small number of people could be invited to the press conference. Eric guessed that Firefly The situation at the Burbank headquarters is likely to be similar. ←,
With the assistance of the security personnel, Eric's car proudly passed through the crowd and drove into the park. As soon as he got out of the car, Eric saw Murdoch and Michael Lynn coming up with several people.
Elizabeth got out from the other side of the car and saw that several people, including her father, had a little bit of a girl in their eyes. She blushed, greeted everyone, and left in a hurry in the name of work. Eric greeted Murdoch and others one by one with a normal expression, and then asked nonchalantly: "Michael, Rupert, have you found out who leaked this?"
Murdoch and Michael Lynn looked at each other, and finally Michael Lynn said, "Eric, maybe Miss Barrymore revealed it by accident."
Eric secretly scolded the dead girl, he didn't know how to hide the fox's tail when doing this kind of thing, but in just one day, the firefly's withdrawal of shares made all the mainstream newspapers and TV stations, trying to hide his body It is impossible at all, presumably Murdoch and Michael Lynn also know that this matter is definitely not leaked by Xiao Nizi 'inadvertently', the meaning of premeditation is too obvious, Michael said that, it is just for everyone to leave some leeway.
"Yesterday, Xiao Nizi complained to me, saying that she was cheated by someone. I didn't expect to make such a thing happen today. I will definitely teach her a lesson later," Eric walked into the office building with everyone, casually Said: "Since it has happened, let's discuss how to deal with it now."
Michael Lynn didn't know what Eric's first sentence meant, and thought he was just saying it casually, but there was a strange look in Murdoch's eyes.
Eric just caught a glimpse of the change in Murdoch's expression. Since the other party noticed what he just hinted, it is estimated that he will soon understand the ins and outs of the matter. As for how the old fox will feel afterwards, this is not Eric's concern.
There were still more than 20 minutes before the press conference, and the group did not go directly to the press conference hall, but came to a conference room first. Discuss some issues for the upcoming conference.
Although the stock withdrawal plan has the greatest impact on Fox Television Network, it is likely to cause News Corporation's stock price to continue to slump for a long time in the future, but it also has an impact on the layout of Firefly Pictures in the next stage. The most intuitive manifestation is While News Corporation's share price fell, most of the companies involved in the TV business on the New York Stock Exchange rose to varying degrees.
Now that the news of the withdrawal has been leaked ahead of time. It is useless to deny that it is definitely useless. Believe it or not, Firefly needs a reasonable and perfunctory excuse for the media temporarily, so as to minimize the uncertainties that may be brought about by the acquisition of the TV network in the preparatory stage.
After discussing the joint speeches of the two parties at the next press conference, Murdoch left the conference room consciously with the people from Fox, and gave Eric and Michael Lynn a chance to communicate alone.
After the outsiders left, Michael Lynn asked, "Eric, what should we do here? Now the major TV networks have already become vigilant?"
Eric had already made plans on the way to Century City, and called to find out about the situation. Said: "I just asked. Viacom's negotiations to acquire Blockbuster have reached the last juncture. If we wish, we can intervene at this time."
"You mean we used the pretense of expanding into the video rental business?"
Eric said: "It definitely works, and it makes sense to sell the stake in Fox Television Network in order to expand into the video business."
1993 was the last prosperous period of the video tape industry, and it was also the most profitable period. Except for Eric, who can see the future, no one would believe that in the next few years. The video tape rental and sales industry will experience a cliff-like decline due to the rise of DVD and the emergence of online rental business.
At this time, the scale of the video tape industry has even surpassed the total box office of movies, and because the strict anti-monopoly restrictions imposed by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) on the television industry have only been gradually relaxed in recent years, most people have not realized it yet. The American TV industry has entered another period of large-scale mergers and integrations. Firefly's excuse for expanding into the video rental business is, if not everyone's credence, plausible.
At the subsequent press conference, when Murdoch announced to dozens of reporters present a series of plans for the continued cooperation between Firefly and Fox Television Network, Eric also made a big splash about Firefly Pictures' plan to expand into the video tape rental market. After a while, he clearly pointed the acquisition of Firefly Pictures at Blockbuster, which is about to be acquired by Viacom.
As for the future. Firefly Pictures will definitely "lose" in the process of competing with Viacom, so Eric is not lying. In order to play a full set, Firefly even sent a vice president to contact Blockbuster's top management .
During this time, Viacom has offered a sky-high price of 8 billion US dollars to Blockbuster, which has more than 3,000 video rental and sales chain stores in the United States. The sudden intervention of Firefly Pictures immediately made Viacom and Blockbuster The negotiation of Blockbuster was obviously deadlocked. Although the management of Blockbuster realized through the brief contact with Firefly Pictures that Firefly had no real intention to acquire Blockbuster, but in order to get a higher price from Viacom However, Blockbuster also doesn't mind playing tricks with Firefly Pictures.
The good situation that was originally going well came to an abrupt end. Summer Redstone published an open letter in the "Los Angeles Times", scolding Eric for being unruly. However, the acquisition of Blockbuster is an important part of Viacom's acquisition of Paramount. If the acquisition of Blockbuster fails, Viacom will lose its bargaining chip for large-scale debt financing, and the plan to acquire Paramount will follow suit. In desperation, Lei Shidong had no choice but to raise the offer again.
Eric turned a deaf ear to Lei Shidong's provocation, and still followed his work and life rhythm step by step.
After the press conference, although the rapid decline of News Corporation's stock price stopped, the stock price did not return to the previous price because of the market's concerns about the "separation" of Fox Television Network and Firefly Pictures.
Perhaps Murdoch quickly understood why. A few days later, Twentieth Century Fox successfully completed the acquisition of tg, raising the offer from the original US$120 million to US$140 million. Eric was able to guess Murdoch's mind and make such a big mess. Although the old fox felt that he was in the wrong, he was absolutely unwilling to increase the price. It was just to prevent a certain little fox from making any more messes, so he reluctantly gave 20 million US dollars in compensation.
After taking tg into the bag, in order to boost investors' confidence. The Fox television network began to increase the promotion of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and it also made a lot of publicity about Eric himself as the producer.
The time came to mid-August, and a sudden incident disrupted the lives of many ordinary people in an instant. On August 18, a dentist in Los Angeles formally filed a lawsuit in the federal court, suing Michael Jackson for his son under the age of 13. The child molestation case of Jackson, which shocked the world, broke out.
Facing the lawsuit, Michael Jackson, who was on a global tour of "Danger Meats", had to suspend the concert and return to the United States to respond to the lawsuit. Eric knew that the world tour of "Danger Meats" represented the pinnacle of Michael Jackson's career. But it also became Michael Jackson's final peak.
After Michael Jackson returned to the United States, hundreds of reporters quickly surrounded Jackson's residence, and a carnival of public opinion broke out worldwide. As for how the object of the carnival felt, who cares? .
There are too many discussions about this matter in later generations. Although Eric knows that Michael Jackson is innocent, Eric can only maintain a cold-eyed attitude at this time. He has no intersection with Michael Jackson. Eric also knew that he couldn't do anything at this time. Not to mention the dentist and the media that criticized Michael Jackson one-sidedly, just imagine that even his own sister stood up and slandered his brother as a pedophile, how could Jackson prove his innocence
Perhaps it was affected by this incident. Or maybe it’s because he’s too busy in daily life. Eric’s recent mood is inexplicably irritable and depressed. Many people around him have noticed this. Jeffrey also brought a psychiatrist to Eric’s office, but It was directly rejected by Eric.
In the next few days, there were suddenly more people around Eric. Famke Jansen, who was filming the new season of "The X-Files" in Canada, hurried back to Los Angeles and stayed with Eric for several days, followed by Jennifer Connelly, who was filming "The Mummy" in Morocco. But he also started to call back frequently. Penelope, who had a keen mind, became more submissive in front of Eric, and everyone around him seemed to be cautious. Xiao Nizi, who got into trouble because of leaking the stock withdrawal plan, even stayed in Sharp Point Manor directly, and even called Tina Fey and Claudia Schiffer over, and secretly asked Ai Rui Would you like to have a taste of twins? Joanna and Virginia hoped more than once that Eric could go to New York to live for a while to accompany the two little guys.
Eric also knows why Jeffrey and others and the women around them look like they are facing an enemy. The proportion of Hollywood stars suffering from mental illness is too high, and many people choose to relieve their psychological pressure. The situation is often very extreme. And those extreme methods usually cause great harm to the person's body and mind. Eric is the veritable backbone of Firefly. If something happens to him, Firefly will soon become a big ship out of control. Under the current situation, no one would like to see this happen.
"I plan to live in New York for a while," Eric said in the first sentence of the new week's high-level meeting.
The firefly executives in the conference room were not surprised when they heard this sentence, but breathed a sigh of relief, and then nodded in agreement.
Seeing that no one objected, Eric began to discuss the arrangements after he left. The summer vacation has passed, and the withdrawal from Fox TV Network has also been settled. The most important thing for Firefly Pictures right now is the early layout of the acquisition of ABC TV Network , mainly including setting up an acquisition team, coordinating financing channels, and absorbing the shares of ABC TV Network to obtain the initial right to speak. Now that Michael Lynn has decided to leave next year, Eric has no scruples and handed over the matter to Carson Berg handles.
In terms of movies, most of the projects are proceeding in an orderly manner. Even if something happens during Eric's absence, the big deal is to come back and make corrections. The script, starring role, director, and production team of the recent film "Charlie's Angels" have all been determined, and Eric does not need to intervene too much in the remaining trivial matters. (To be continued.)