Seattle.
In the large conference room of Amazon’s corporate headquarters, several high-level executives were sitting around the conference table and talking in a low voice. The wall-mounted screen directly in front of the conference room displayed a series of background transaction data of irelyer players. In the next 5 minutes, the most eye-catching turnover figure on the screen was still zero.
Talking on the phone with a vice president who was in charge of the logistics and distribution of irelyer players in San Francisco, Jeff Bezos also hurriedly opened the door of the meeting room and walked in, sat down in his seat, and looked at the wall expectantly on the big screen. The other senior executives who had been whispering also fell silent, leaving only two administrative secretaries tiptoely distributing a document.
Just like the day when hunger marketing was implemented three months ago, today is still a very important day for Amazon.
From April to the present, with the hunger marketing strategy for irelyer players, Amazon has not only gained a lot of attention, but also the popularity of the website, the number of registered people, and the sales amount have all increased significantly. Prior to this, the company's turnover in the first quarter was only 87 million US dollars, which is already a very impressive performance for an e-commerce website that has been established for less than three years. But in the second quarter, relying on the popularity brought by the marketing strategy of irelyer players, Amazon's turnover soared 77% to $154 million in three months. Among them, the cumulative 150,000 irelyer players underwritten by Amazon contributed nearly $45 million in operating income.
Jeff Bezos has always been a very conceited person, but this time, he also had to admire Eric's ingenuity in the online marketing of the irelyer player.
Amazon has started IPO negotiations with Morgan Stanley a few months ago, and has initially confirmed that the official listing time will be January next year.
Just in March, Firefly Investment injected another US$100 million into Amazon in exchange for a third 5% stake, when the company’s valuation was only US$2 billion.
But now, with the Nasdaq index continuing to rise, and more importantly, the explosive growth of Amazon’s business in the second quarter, Wall Street’s valuation of Amazon has doubled to $4 billion in half a year.
Although the outbreak of the economic crisis in Southeast Asia may have some impact on the Nasdaq index, Jeff Bezos is quite optimistic. Even, if Amazon can maintain the current high growth rate, it is not impossible for the company's IPO stock price to double compared to the current forecast in the future, and the hunger marketing strategy for irelyer will undoubtedly greatly contribute to the company's development. If possible, Jeff Bezos very much hopes that the hunger marketing of irelyer players will continue until the end of the year, but he also understands that many things are too much. Although hunger marketing can greatly increase the attention and topicality of the website in the short term, if users cannot purchase a product for a long time, the original expectation will definitely gradually turn into disappointment or even disgust. Neither Firefly Electronics nor Amazon Hope to see this happen.
Thinking about these issues in a daze, Jeff Bezos didn't come back to his senses until the administrative secretary patted him lightly on the shoulder. On the big screen, the time had come to 9:59.
Everyone in the conference room completely put down everything in their hands and minds, and turned their eyes to the big screen directly in front of them.
There was no special notification sound, and there was no dramatic picture. As soon as 10 o'clock arrived, the simple and eye-catching number on the big screen began to jump rapidly.
In the last rush before the opening of the purchase, the 5,000 irelyer players were sold out in only 37 seconds.
But this time, even though the pre-sale was open, the sales of the irelyer players on the screen still broke through the 5,000-unit barrier in just one minute, and it was not until seven minutes later that the pre-sale sales reached 20,000 units, and the transaction speed was considered slow Slowed down, but this slowdown can only be in relative terms, the sales figures on the screen are still increasing at a rate of more than 10 units per second.
After the first expansion of the production capacity of irelyer players, Amazon still got a third of the sales share this time, which is 150,000 units.
According to the sales situation in the past few months, although it is still expected that irelyer will maintain a tight sales status for a long time in the future, Amazon previously predicted that the supply of 150,000 units should be able to roughly meet the orders of online users. After all, e-commerce is just emerging after all, and most consumers still prefer to buy electronic products in brick-and-mortar stores. In the three months of sales before irelyer, although the price of brick-and-mortar stores was generally $30 higher than that of Amazon, but There is no hindrance to the buying enthusiasm of users in physical stores.
Therefore, as time went by, at 10:52, when the turnover on the big screen exceeded 50,000 units, Jeff Bezos' original joy dissipated, and he calmed down. Something went wrong. Selling the previous month's sales in less than an hour may seem like a good thing on the surface, but if the supply that was originally prepared for a month is swept away within a day or even a few hours, what will Amazon do next? to supply customers.
I was still thinking about what happened quickly in my mind, but Jeff Bezos' body had already jumped up, waving his arms and shouting loudly to everyone in the conference room: "Stop, stop the fuck! , can no longer be sold."
…
The casting of the Spice Girls caused a stir beyond imagination, but Eric's life in London was not affected. Naturally, he will not participate in the early selection. Simon Fuller is responsible for these tasks, and he will only participate in finalizing the final candidate in the final stage.
Christina returned to Los Angeles after spending a week in London. Firefly Records president Barry Weiss hopes that the popularity of "Casino Royale" will allow Christina to release another single and warm up for her debut record next year.
Although there is no substantive work plan in the near future, Eric has not completely turned a deaf ear to the outside world.
In addition to the summer box office in North America, Eric also continued to pay attention to the various affairs of the Firefly system, MGM's acquisition of e! Entertainment and Rainbow Media's equity, the 007 project team and Brosnan's salary negotiations, Chris's work in Southeast Asia He also took the time to go to Cambridge in the north of London and the Nokia headquarters in Finland to check the chip development progress of arm and the operation of Nokia, although it is far away from North America. , the women are not around, but the days are still full.
Due to the time difference, it is still daytime in North America, but night has already fallen in London.
Although it has long been incorporated by Hollywood, the 007 series is still regarded as British movies by most British media. Therefore, it may be that "Casino Royale"'s popularity and box office in North America and even the world's film market have aroused the pride of the British people. It is as high as 14.27 million pounds, which is equivalent to 21.4 million U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of 1:1.5 from the pound to the U.S. dollar.
In two weeks, the British box office of "Casino Royale" has reached 35.57 million pounds (53.36 million U.S. dollars). According to the current box office trend, the final British box office of the film will exceed 60 million pounds (90 million U.S. dollars). Compared with "Titanic", which was finally released last month, at 79.93 million pounds (119 million U.S. dollars), there is no suspense to win the second place in the British film history box office list.
In a private club in London's West End, a filmmaker's party is going on, which is hosted by the famous British orking-title film company.
At the after-party for the London premiere of "Casino Royale", Eric once had a relationship with an orking-title female producer named Alison Owen, after seeing Cate Blanchett After her performance in "Casino Royale", Alison Owen intends to invite her to star in a film that the company is preparing. Since Kate signed an option contract with Firefly in advance, this matter must be approved by Firefly. Rick happened to be in London again, and after going back and forth, the script was sent to Eric.
Coincidentally, that movie turned out to be "Elizabeth," a biopic about Queen Elizabeth I of England.
The original time and space "Elizabeth" once made Cate Blanchett nominated for the first Oscar for the leading actress. Moreover, "Elizabeth" and "Shakespeare in Love" were released in the same year, and both were Oscar hits that year. However, in the face of "Shakespeare in Love" operated by Miramax behind the scenes, the result of "Elizabeth" can be imagined Know.
Since "Elizabeth" can become an Oscar hit, naturally it will not be too bad. Cate Blanchett also likes this role very much. Eric has no objection. The final result of the discussion is that the film is jointly invested by orking-title and New Line. New Line is responsible for the film's international distribution outside the UK.
During several communications around "Elizabeth", Eric also gradually became acquainted with the person in charge of orking-title, hence the party he attended today.
"Eric, I heard that you are selecting a band recently, can you tell me in advance, do you plan to surprise everyone this time?"
In the hall full of people, Eric stood with a glass of red wine and chatted with the other three people. Eric Feiner, the president of the orking-title company, asked, yes, another Eric. Actually, In the West, where there is really no creativity in naming names, the probability of meeting someone with the same name as one's own in public is actually about the same as the probability of encountering the same model of car when driving out.
"Since it's a surprise, of course we won't know until the last moment. However, I can reveal it in advance," Eric said with a smile on his face, gradually lowered his voice, and whetted the appetite of several people, before saying: " It's a girl group."
The other three were stunned for a moment, then laughed.
19 Entertainment's open recruitment information clearly states that young girls between the ages of 18 and 18 are required, and of course there is no other possibility. Eric Feiner also shook his head and smiled, and said, "So, Eric, Firefly is going to develop the record business in Europe, right?"
Eric shook his head and said: "It's just some ideas now, I still plan to try the water first, after all, Firefly is not good at the music field."
"Actually," Eric Feiner continued: "The record industry is similar to the Hollywood film company. The method for Firefly to expand its business in this field is actually very simple."
Eric raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard what the other party said. Just now, everyone was still discussing the development of British films. Eric Feiner suddenly brought the topic up to the selection of the Spice Girls. Eric already felt a little strange. At this time, he clearly felt that Eric Feiner should be hinting at something.
Just as he was thinking, a warm greeting sounded beside him: "Hi, Eric, good evening."
Eric turned around and saw Barbara Broccoli walking over with a smile in a black evening dress. She also smiled and nodded in response, and carefully hugged her while holding a wine glass. The British film circle is only so big. As the producer of the 007 series, it is not surprising that Barbara Broccoli appears here.
After hugging Eric, Barbara Broccoli and several others nodded, and then asked, "So, what are you talking about?"
Eric Feiner replied with a smile: "Of course it is "Casino Royale", Barbara, what you did this time is really beautiful."
"Hey, Eric is here. If you say that, I will feel ashamed."
"Ha ha."
There was another burst of laughter.
After chatting casually, Barbara Broccoli noticed that there was no female companion beside Eric, and joked: "Eric, I didn't expect you to come here alone tonight, do you need me to dance with you? "
Eric reached out and said, "Of course, it's my honor."
Barbara Broccoli was just joking, but when she saw Eric stretching out her hand, she didn't refuse. She handed the red wine to the waiter next to her, nodded her goodbyes with the others, and followed Eric to the dance floor.
Feeling Eric hugging her waist, Barbara Broccoli also put her arm over, but leaned into Eric's ear and said: "First of all, Eric, even if you can't find it today If you're a girl, don't provoke me."
Accompanied by the music, Eric danced gently with Barbara Broccoli and said, "Barbara, it really hurts me to say that."
"Hehe, I just gave you a vaccination in advance, you are not my type."
"Oh, it looks like I'm so handsome, do you like the rough type?"
"No, you're too old, I like younger ones."
"Well, my heart is broken again, but, if I remember correctly, you're better than me..."
Barbara Broccoli didn't wait for Eric to finish, and immediately interrupted: "Hey, Eric, don't be so rude."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Eric quickly stopped talking, and turned to say: "By the way, Barbara, I want to ask you something, are you familiar with Eric Feiner?"
"It's okay, you know, the British circle is just that big."
"Then, do you know which record company he is related to?"
Barbara Broccoli thought for a while, shook her head, then seemed to understand something, and said with a smile: "I don't know what record company Eric Feiner is related to, but orking-title is related to a record company Oh, it’s a big deal. I think this is what you’re asking.” (To be continued.)