After the box office explosion of the two films "Saving Private Ryan" and "True Lies" in June, the shareholders and creditors of Firefly, who had all kinds of small calculations in their minds, have completely settled down. The first weekend of "The Lion King" The astonishing box office of more than 46 million U.S. dollars a day made them start to re-evaluate the value of their stocks and bonds.
The production cost of "The Lion King" is only 45 million US dollars. Although the publicity and distribution costs have reached the same high level, the expected box office of 300 million US dollars in North America alone has already made Firefly a fortune. , videotape sales, and peripheral licensing will continue to bring more than $1 billion in profits to Firefly. Some people in Hollywood even think that the golden age of hand-drawn animation films has come again, and the first reaction of Firefly’s small shareholders and creditors to hear the news is to hope that Firefly can increase investment in hand-drawn animation, and the original two-year average The production speed has increased to one or more films a year.
Therefore, when the news appeared in the newspaper that Eric was about to close the Disney animation film department after "The Lion King", no one believed the news to be true. Because of this, when CNN played the recording of Eric answering a reporter's question at the premiere of "The Lion King", the whole world felt that Eric Williams must be crazy.
In the next few days, the offices and private calls of Katzenberg, Michael Lynn and all Firefly executives were bombarded by calls from shareholders, creditors and the media. Of course, it was even more impossible for Eric to be let go. However, when some people contacted Eric, the call was directly transferred to his assistant's office. As long as it was an inquiry about Disney Animation Studios, the reply was always affirmative, but there was no explanation.
Emotional minority shareholders even publicly put pressure on Firefly's top management in newspapers, and Firefly's long-term bond sales began to slow down again. The topic of shutting down Disney's animation department has attracted worldwide attention in just a few days, and it spread later. There are even ridiculous remarks that Disney is about to go bankrupt.
In Firefly Studios, in the studio where the Victoria's Secret show was being prepared, Eric, who was 'concerned' by many people, was concentrating on discussing the design of a set of Victoria's Secret Angel costumes with a designer in a low voice.
Outside the studio, a brown-haired woman about thirty-five years old in a black professional suit came to the entrance. After showing his ID, he was let in. The woman searched for a moment among a group of designers, dressmakers and fitting models, and after locking on to her target, she walked through the busy working crowd and came to Eric in a hurry.
The brown-haired woman's name is Kelly Haines, who was originally an assistant in Eric's assistant office. Although Eric promised Caroline and her roommate, Melanie Gleason, to work in his assistant's office, the two girls could only enter the job after completing the courses at Harvard, and even if they started working, they would not be able to enter the job in a short time. It is also impossible to be qualified for the role of Eric's first assistant, so after returning from Boston, under Allen's recommendation, Eric chose this woman as his first assistant.
Sensing the approaching figure beside him, Eric looked up and noticed Kelly Hines, and asked, "Kelly, what's the matter?"
Kelly Hines had worked in Eric's assistant's office for several years. But suddenly coming to the big boss's side, it seemed that he was still a little uncomfortable. After calming down a little, he said, "Mr. Williams, Mr. Buffett called himself just now. He said that he would arrive in Los Angeles at four o'clock in the afternoon and wanted to invite you to have dinner together. In addition, Mr. Tom Murphy and David Mr. West will be coming from New York."
Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy, and David West, president of State Street Global Fund, happen to be members of the board of directors of Firefly who accidentally represent the 25% minority shareholders.
Eric had already called and briefly explained to a few people before, but these people obviously didn't intend to stop there.
Pausing the work in hand, Eric said: "Promise them for me. Also, are the materials I asked you to prepare ready?"
"Yes," Kelly Haines took out a document from her bag and handed it to Eric.
Eric smiled and shook his head and said: "Although these documents have not reached the confidentiality level, you should not take them out of the office without asking for them. And I don't have time to read them now, so give them to me before dinner. "
Kelly Haines blushed slightly. She wanted Eric to see the results of her work immediately, but she ignored some work rules that she had paid close attention to in the past, and put the files away again. Kelly Haines Ernes said seriously: "I'm sorry. Mr. Williams, this is my mistake."
"It's okay, is there anything else?"
Kelly Haines took out a memo and said: "The Hearst Group, Condé Nast Group, News Corporation, and Knight Ridd Group have all made their own offers for the paper media assets spun off by ABC..." Speaking of which, Kai Li Haines paused suddenly, and then looked at the designer next to Eric who seemed to be bending over to draw a picture very intently. The designer didn't have any other thoughts in his heart. He was just a little curious about the daily life of Eric, a big man. He didn't take the initiative to avoid it just now, but at this moment he keenly felt Kelly Haines' gaze. The designer gave Eric an apologetic look in embarrassment, picked up the drawing board and walked to another nearby workbench.
This small episode did not have any impact on the communication between the two. Kelly Haines continued: "Currently, the Hearst Group has given the highest offer of US$1.35 billion, followed by News Corporation's US$1.3 billion, Condé Nast 1.28 billion US dollars and Knight Reid’s 1 billion US dollars. At the regular meeting in the morning, Mr. Lynn and the others felt that this was only the first round of testing by the publishing group, and the final price of this asset should be between 1.5 billion and 1.6 billion US dollars. between."
Eric nodded, indicating that he understood. Kelly Haines didn't expect Eric to discuss anything with her. If Eric had any ideas, she would usually only discuss with Michael Lynn and others. She was only responsible for summarizing the information to Eric. Rick.
Turning the page of the memo, Kelly Hines couldn't help but looked up at Eric's expression, and said, "Mr. Peter Schneider, the head of the animation department, and Mr. Roy Disney, the art consultant, hope to meet you face to face. Talk, they said this invitation represents 758 employees in Disney's hand-drawn animation department, hope you will take it seriously."
"Unexpectedly, Roy Disney couldn't help jumping out. He really thinks of himself as the emperor of Disney." Eric smiled slightly mockingly, whether it was the information in memory or the impression of the real person after rebirth. Well, Eric doesn't even like Roy Disney, a guy who likes to play tricks.
The original time and space. In the mid-1980s, Roy Disney’s joint shareholders kicked out Walt Disney’s son-in-law, completely erasing the influence of Walt Disney’s bloodline branch on Disney; Katzenberg’s resignation incident in the mid-1990s , Michael Ovitz's resignation incident, all have Roy Disney's figure; the beginning of the new century. Roy Disney launched a shareholder vote again and drove away Michael Eisner. It can be said that after the death of Walt Disney in the original time and space, Roy Disney was involved in every turmoil in Disney. Although some of these incidents have also brought positive effects to the Disney Group, since this space-time Disney has become an asset under Firefly. Of course, Eric will not allow the unstable factor of Roy Disney to continue to exist.
Therefore, not long after the acquisition of Disney, after the situation stabilized, Eric took away Roy Disney's position as the head of Disney's animation department on the grounds that he was too old, and only reserved a title of art consultant for him symbolically. .
After thinking about it for a while, Eric said, "Tell them, at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, I will wait for them in the studio's personal office."
Kelly Haines listened to Eric's casual tone, and even had some doubts that the big boss was clear about the current chaotic situation outside, and stopped for a moment. She still quietly recorded this matter in the memo, and then said: "Mr. Williams, there are only these things for the time being. Is there anything on your side that we need to do?"
"No, just arrange a car to pick me up to the banquet at night," Eric shook his head, and was about to let Kelly Hines leave, but then he remembered another thing and asked, "I I haven't had time to read last weekend's box office report, how much is Warner's "Law Enforcer" at the box office?"
Kelly Hines said: "$7.5 million. The film ranked fifth at the box office last weekend, behind "The Lion King," "True Lies," "Star Trek VII" and "Saving Private Ryan." "After ", the word-of-mouth of the film also declined. The agency estimates that the total box office of this film will be between 25 million and 30 million US dollars. In total, Warner will bear a loss of 70 million US dollars in the short term. The detailed report has been sent to you email address."
Eric didn't hear anyone specifically mentioning this to him, so he had already anticipated the end of "Law Enforcement Titans", and gloated a little: "Now Warner will definitely not have any expectations for western movies anymore."
Kelly Hines said: "Yes, Warner's total box office this year is temporarily behind Firefly and Universal. However, Warner's annual film release plan is 29, one more than Firefly. The follow-up box office Accumulation is likely to rank second, because the other major film companies are all cutting production. After Firefly, Universal has 16 films, Paramount has 15 films, Fox has 13 films, and Columbia and MGM have 10 films. Next, although the other second- and third-tier film companies released a lot of films, they did not perform very well at the box office."
"It seems that you are very sensitive to numbers," Eric said with a smile, "I like women who are sensitive to numbers."
"Thank you, Mr. Williams," Kelly Haines found herself feeling flustered when faced with the smile of this young man who was ten years younger than herself, and hurriedly said, "If there is nothing else..."
Eric realized that he had crossed the line again unknowingly. If Kelly Haynes was already married, then such slightly teasing words would have seemed too abrupt. After gathering his mind, Eric said: "You Go back to work and I will contact you if necessary."
…
"At the premiere of "The Lion King" last Thursday, Eric Williams, the chairman of the board of directors of the Firefly Group, suddenly confirmed a rumor that has been circulating in Hollywood for a long time. The Firefly Group will close the Disney Animation Studio. He planned to fully digitize the animation production. But then, the dramatic change of this matter was beyond everyone's expectations. The first day of the release of "The Lion King", which was not so popular, not only surpassed the first-day box office record of Disney animation. The increase has more than doubled, and it also won an astonishing box office of more than 46 million US dollars within three days of the first weekend, breaking a number of Disney 2D animation box office records in one fell swoop. The first 3D animation "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life". Afterwards, our reporter called Michael Lynn, CEO of Firefly Group, and the result was that Firefly will continue to implement the established transformation plan for animation production. What is the impact of Firefly and other Hollywood studios, let us have Mr. James Shilt, a professional film critic from "Variety" magazine... "
On the TV, the host of an NBC financial program got up and greeted the guests who entered the studio, while David West, the president of State Street Global Assets sitting in front of the TV, couldn't help but sighed, and said to his side Tom Murphy said: "Young man, you are always so willful. Tom, do you think we can make that little guy Eric Williams change his mind?"
Tom Murphy turned his head to look at the clouds outside the porthole of the private jet, shook his head and said, "If he insists on doing this, no one seems to be able to stop him. I already spoke to Warren last night, and he seems to be from Eric I heard something there, and I seem to be undecided."
"This is an animation department that can produce 300 million-level films. Even if Williams really made this decision at the beginning, and now cancels the original plan, no one will blame him. I don't think it is necessary at all. It's too unacceptable to insist on sticking to your wrong plan."
Tom Murphy asked suddenly: "If he insists on going his own way, what are you going to do?"
David West froze for a moment, shook his head with a wry smile, and said, "What can I do, is it possible to file a lawsuit in the federal court to prohibit him from doing so?"
The shareholding in Eric's hands also means that he has absolute control over Firefly, and he can adjust his business at will without breaking the law. Closing down its hand-drawn animation department because it is not optimistic about the development prospects of 2D animation, although it will cause controversy, it does not violate the law.
Both of them fell silent, although they knew that they had another option, which was to sell the Firefly stock in their hands and cash out. If they planned to do this, both Eric and Wall Street would be 100% willing to take over their hands Firefly Group stock.
But now that Firefly Group has surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media group in North America, only the most short-sighted people would be foolish enough to sell their stocks.
Listening to the high-spirited discussions between the host and the guests on the airborne TV, after a long time, Tom Murphy said: "I hope Eric Williams can give us a reasonable reason." (To be continued.)