After the heart bypass surgery, although Michael Eisner was repeatedly told by his family and doctors to pay attention to rest, it was just seven o'clock on the new day, and he had already sat in his office at the global headquarters. Because at ten o'clock this morning, Firefly will officially auction off its hand-drawn animation department at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Turning on the brand-new IBM desktop computer on the desk, Michael Eisner quickly clicked on the top link on the entertainment version of Yahoo Portal again, and read the detailed asset list of the animation department that was about to be auctioned.
Until now, Michael Eisner still clearly remembers that in 1986, under the suggestion of Bill Michanik, then head of the home entertainment department, the management began to release Disney's classic animated films against the pressure of all parties.
Before that, Disney's library of hundreds of titles was valued at just $200 million, both within the industry and within Disney, but then, Disney's first attempt at releasing a videotape of 1940's "Pinocchio" sold within a year. Only 1.7 million boxes were sold, and the sales reached 51 million U.S. dollars. The sales of the next animated films such as "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" all exceeded the valuation of Disney's film library of 200 million U.S. dollars.
Michael Eisner, who witnessed the resurgence of Disney's 2D animated films in the late 1980s, believes that he knows the value of Disney's animated films better than anyone else.
When Firefly threw out the news that the animation department was packaged and sold, after confirming that it was not fake news, Michael Eisner's first thought was to win it at all costs, even without the box office hit of "The Lion King", Michael Eisner Sina felt he should do the same.
However, the reaction of Panasonic Group, the Japanese parent company of Universal, poured a basin of cold water on Michael Eisner.
Panasonic Group's willingness to enter the entertainment industry has not been so eager from the beginning to the end. When it followed Sony's lead and bought Universal, it was completely worried about being left behind by its competitors in the electronics industry.
In the past few years, Panasonic has discovered that the promotion of its electronic products by buying a Hollywood film company is not so obvious, and the Japanese also realized that from the very beginning, they have been severely pitted by Hollywood. Compared with Sony, which still has some fantasies, Panasonic has no intention of continuing to operate Universal. Not to mention spending more than ten or two billion dollars in cash for an animation department.
Unreconciled, Michael Eisner flew to Japan for the last time in a row in the past month, but failed to get any support from Panasonic. However, things soon turned around again.
The success of "The Mummy" has brought a very beautiful financial report to Universal. Panasonic intends to take advantage of this opportunity to sell Universal. Coincidentally, the Seagram Group from Canada expressed its willingness to enter Hollywood at the same time, and the two sides soon entered the stage of secret negotiations.
As the helm of Universal, Michael Eisner is of course also on the list of negotiations. During this process, Michael Eisner realized that Edgar Bronfman, the CEO of Seagram Group, had a strong interest in the media industry, so he took the opportunity to lobby Edgar Bronfman to buy it in advance before taking over Universal. Disney Animation Division. Encouraged by the success of The Lion King, Edgar Bronfman agreed without much hesitation.
Time passed unconsciously, and the secretary's knock on the door pulled Michael Eisner out of his thoughts: "Mr. Eisner, Mr. Bronfman is here."
Michael Eisner stood up, straightened his suit, greeted him with a professional smile, and at the same time. A tall, bearded middle-aged man with glasses walked in.
After greeting each other warmly, Michael Eisner said, "Then, Edgar, let's set off now."
Edgar Bronfman hesitated and said, "Michael, don't we need to wait for Mr. Ovitz?"
Michael Eisner shook his head slightly, and said: "Edgar, if you are sure to buy Universal, maybe we need some time to talk about Michael in detail, but today we should focus on the Disney animation department. "
Edgar Bronfman's look on Michael Eisner's face made him realize that the recent rumors of a breakdown between decades-old friends Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz were true.
but. After Eisner said that, Edgar Bronfman stopped mentioning Michael Ovitz, and the two drove to the Beverly Hilton Hotel together.
…
It was a sweet evening together, though Nicole would love to attend the animation department auction with Eric. But had to fly to New York early in the morning with agent Pai Kingsley to discuss a film contract. After "The Mummy", Nicole plans to take advantage of the gap before the sequel of "The Mummy" to shoot an art film, hone her acting skills and get nominated, so as to improve her vase image in the hearts of film critics.
Eric thoughtfully sent Nicole to the plane before rushing to the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel.
After getting off the car in the parking lot, Eric saw Kelly hurrying over with a blue folder. Said: "I'm really sorry, Kelly, there are some temporary things."
Kelly smelled the faint scent of perfume on Eric's body. Although her face didn't change, she couldn't help but said: "You are my boss, there is no need to apologize to me."
Eric didn't expect that the female assistant, who has always been intellectual and capable, also had a tasteful little woman. He took a big step forward with his index finger, trying to wrap his arms around Kelly's waist to comfort her. A black Cadillac drove into the car very unpleasantly. PARKING LOT.
Kelly, who was taken aback by Eric's actions, took a step back reproachfully. Just as she was about to complain, several people who got on and off the Cadillac came towards Eric.
"Eric, long time no see." Michael Eisner came over, shook hands with Eric, and introduced the middle-aged people around him: "This is Edgar Bronfman, Canadian Seagram Group CEO."
Eric had already read the relevant bidder's information, and he was no stranger to it. He warmly extended his hand and said, "Hello, Mr. Bronfman."
"Mr. Williams, nice to meet you," Edgar Bronfman shook hands with Eric, with a smile on his face, but he felt a little weird in his heart, especially when he called this man twenty years younger than himself. This sense of disobedience is even more intense when he is a young man named 'Mr. Williams'.
Because of the differences in the identities of the buyers and sellers on both sides today, Michael Eisner and Edgar Bronfman left first after a brief chat.
Looking at the figure of the two leaving with their entourage. Kelly smiled at the corner of her mouth and said to Eric: "You always make people who see you for the first time feel very uncomfortable."
Eric knew that Kelly was talking about Edgar Bronfman's reaction just now, so he just smiled. The Bronfman family, which owns the Seagram Group, took advantage of the business opportunities brought about by the American Prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s and rose rapidly in Canada, although it still operates the wine business. But it has developed into a diversified and comprehensive group. Edgar Bronfman is the third generation of the Bronfman family after the fortune, and he is in charge of the family's tens of billions of dollars in business. However, in front of Eric. This 'rich three generations' can't find any sense of superiority at all.
Thinking of Edgar Bronfman's appearance, Eric asked curiously, "Is Edgar Bronfman Jewish?"
"Yeah," Kelly nodded, "Bronfman, a standard Jewish surname."
"Before Seagram won Universal, he started thinking about Disney's animation department. Together, the two may need 10 billion US dollars in cash. Both Panasonic and Firefly will only accept cash payments," said Ai. As Rick spoke, his tone became mysterious. Leaning in front of Kelly: "Hey, do you think there is some organization like the Freemasonry behind this attempting to invade Hollywood?"
Kelly gave Eric a white look, and said: "The Seagram Group bought 24.3% of DuPont's shares in 1981. In April this year, DuPont launched a share repurchase agreement, which was finally paid for at $9 billion. Buying Seagram's stake in DuPont, that's how they funded the acquisition of Universal and the animation division."
Eric looked at his watch, took Kelly to the elevator in the underground parking lot, and said, "9 billion dollars, it's not good to do something, for this kind of outsider. Buying a film company is really stupid."
Kelly didn't quite agree with Eric's point of view: "With an average annual growth rate of 9% in the film market, after Seagram buys Universal, even if it can't continue, it can still make a profit by changing hands."
Eric thought about it. I also think what Kelly said is quite reasonable.
I remember in the original time and space, a few years after Seagram bought Universal, due to various problems, he sold Universal to the French Vivendi Group again. Vivendi played for several years, but still failed. And sold it to General Electric. However, although they failed to achieve any outstanding results, Universal did not fall into the dilapidated situation of MGM at that time. In addition, now that Michael Eisner is in control, it seems that Seagram will not be able to continue playing at that time. Really don't lose too much.
However, if this time Seagram, under the instigation of Michael Eisner, forcibly spends huge sums of money to win Disney's hand-drawn animation department, then the future situation will definitely be different.
Universal is different from companies like Paramount and Time Warner. Universal and its parent company, MCA, may belong to foreign capital now and in the future. According to federal law, only foreigners cannot own American TV stations, which restricts Universal It is impossible to develop towards a comprehensive media group. This also means that Universal's ability to resist risks will be far weaker than that of large groups such as Firefly, Paramount and Time Warner. If it gets the hand-drawn animation department that is destined to be in trouble, there is almost no suspense that Universal will stumble in this area in the next few years. In addition, the music record industry will be impacted by the Internet, and it is not impossible for Universal to fall into a predicament like MGM.
Kelly also seemed to think about Eric, and asked, "Eric, which company do you want to get the animation department today?"
"Paramount, I don't want Warner to decline so soon. I still hope that Warner can continue to compete with Firefly for a few years. Of course, whoever gets the hand-painted animation department in the end is a good thing for Firefly. That means one of our competitors is going to get in big trouble with that baggage."
The two talked, and soon came to a meeting room in the Hilton Hotel. Katzenberg, who was about to host the auction himself, was holding a document and chanting words. Seeing Eric and Kelly come in, he just nodded and said hello.
Eric chatted with Frank Wells and several other executives about trivial matters for a while, and the time was still approaching ten o'clock. Eric left the meeting room with everyone and walked into the auction hall. Although the media reporters were blocked from the auction hall, there were still more than half of the people in the hall with hundreds of seats.
Eric greeted the Hollywood tycoons who came to participate in the auction or just to join in the fun, and then took Frank Wells and others to sit in the back row.
At ten o'clock, Katzenberg walked up to the auction stage in high spirits, and when the whispers in the audience quieted down, Katzenberg said into the microphone: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's auction site. Everyone knows that the 2D animated film "The Lion King", which was released on June 24 this year, has achieved an astonishing box office of 670 million US dollars worldwide. This is very exciting news for the entire Hollywood. This means that the Hollywood animation film market will once again usher in a new era. However, due to the internal strategic development considerations of the Firefly Group, we have decided to sell its hand-painted animation department as a whole."
After the brief opening speech, Katzenberg continued: "Although everyone has already obtained the detailed asset catalogue, here, let me give you a brief introduction, in addition to the listed assets that will be auctioned , Firefly Group also temporarily decided that in order to alleviate the short-term financial pressure of the buyer as much as possible, we will extend the original one-year payment date to three years."
As soon as Katzenberg said these words, the originally quiet hall immediately became buzzing.
The news was so sudden that none of the bidders thought that Firefly would do this.
Of course, the purpose of Firefly’s doing this cannot be guessed, leaving enough time for buyers to pay, which means that these buyers will likely charge a higher price.
A somewhat old voice quickly overwhelmed all the whispers, and rang out at the auction site: "Jeffrey, I request that the auction be suspended, and I need to discuss it with my team."
Everyone turned their heads together and found that the speaker was Summer Redstone, CEO of Viacom.
Katzenberg didn't refuse either, and said with an unchanged smile: "Of course, no problem, Mr. Lei Shidong. Then, the bidding time will be delayed by half an hour. If you need urgent discussions, you can do whatever you want." (To be continued) .)