Eric probably understood something, and continued to ask: "Which record company?"
"Polygram is the record company headquartered in the Netherlands. I remember that in 1992, Polygram took a stake in Working-Title and became the largest shareholder of the film company. At that time, a founder of Working-Title , seems to be called Tim Bevan, because he was dissatisfied with other partners for this transaction and left the company, Polygram recruited Eric Feiner as the president, until now,” Barbara Bu After talking about some of the information he knew, Lori asked curiously, "Eric, what are you asking for?"
Eric was a little surprised. Although Firefly Electronics has launched the Fireflyer player and has been negotiating with major record companies about online music sales, Eric actually doesn't pay much attention to the movements of the major record companies. I thought that Polygram had already been acquired by several other major record giants. In my memory, after 2000, I rarely heard the name Polygram again. To hear Barbara Broccoli say this, it's clearly not happening yet.
After sorting out some scattered information in his mind, Eric said: "Just now, before you came to say hello, Eric Feiner should have hinted to me that Polygram might be selling."
"I haven't heard of this," Barbara Broccoli shook her head, and said, "However, this should be a good opportunity. Drew gave me a Fireflyer player a few days ago, and I also think it is very Not bad, but there are too few songs in the music store. If you want to listen to any song, you have to buy a CD to copy it first. "
Eric nodded and smiled, but he knew better in his heart.
Since Barbara Blockley can see the shortcomings of the Yahoo Music Store in terms of content, it must be easier for Polygram to notice this. The reason for what Rick Feiner just said.
In fact, Eric has always hoped that through the large-scale promotion of MP3 music players, several major record companies will be forced to actively seek cooperation with online music stores.
However, the lack of content in the Yahoo Music Store at the moment is indeed a headache. After all, even if you don’t care about the life and death of the entire record industry, if users cannot buy genuine music through the Internet and are forced to turn to pirated copies in large numbers, MP3 players will definitely There will be more and more public pressure.
After making up their mind to ask someone to collect some Polygram information first, Eric and Barbara Broccoli chatted about other topics casually.
However, before the end of a dance song, Eric saw his assistant, Peter Rich, gesturing towards him with a mobile phone in his hand.
Eric raised his chin towards Peter Rich, and said, "Sorry, Barbara, Peter may need me urgently."
"Of course it doesn't matter."
Barbara Broccoli shook her head with a smile, let go of Eric, and the two left the dance floor together.
Peter Rich waited for Eric to approach, handed over the phone, and said, "BOSS, the call from San Francisco is from Mr. McNally, and you must answer it yourself."
Eric nodded, smiled at Barbara Broccoli again, took the phone and put it to his ear, and walked towards the gate of the banquet hall.
Although the call was from Firefly Electronics CEO Victor McNairy, it was related to Amazon.
It was almost ten o'clock in the evening in London, and it was still only afternoon in western US time.
Things have to start with the opening of Amazon's Fireflyer player for pre-sale in the morning. At 10:00 am in the western United States, Amazon officially opened the pre-sale of Fireflyer player to users.
Unexpectedly, in just 52 minutes, sales broke through the 50,000-unit mark, which far exceeded Amazon's expectations. Jeff Bezos, who felt something went wrong, decisively suspended the pre-sale.
After investigation, it turned out that because Fireflyer players in physical stores are generally $30 higher than Amazon’s, and Amazon’s Fireflyer player is still $299 after the pre-sale, so many users who are obviously e-retailers They all regard Amazon as a "wholesale" platform for Fireflyer players. Some users even ordered 1,000 units at a time, and orders such as 50 units and 100 units are countless.
According to the final statistics, among the pre-sale sales of 50,000 units, orders from ordinary customers are probably less than 7,000, and all others are large orders.
In fact, Amazon did not fail to consider this issue before opening pre-sales. In the previous rush-buying stage, Amazon stipulated that each user could only purchase a maximum of two units at a time.
However, Amazon’s management generally feels that the market demand for Fireflyer players may not be so tight when Firefly’s electronic production capacity is greatly increased, and the physical retail price should gradually decrease to a price comparable to that of the online platform. Therefore, there is no limit to the number of user purchases.
The result of doing so has also led to the situation of being frantically "swiped" after the opening of the pre-sale. Obviously, the physical retailer has tasted enough sweetness in the sales process of the Fireflyer player in the first few months. When there is not enough supply, start to find another way.
It is conceivable that these people must have been full of these people during the panic buying activities implemented by Amazon in the first three months. Otherwise, it is unlikely that all 5,000 players will be swept away in less than a minute. After all, , If you grab a Fireflyer player, you can earn at least $30 or more if you resell it. This kind of 'business' is still very cost-effective.
Now that the blunder has happened, though, Amazon has to find a way around it.
It is definitely not acceptable to cancel those large orders. Although the motivation of these users is somewhat lacking, since Amazon did not limit the number of purchases in advance, they are not breaking the rules. Imposing the company's own mistakes on users will result in a lawsuit in the United States, and it is impossible to win, and it will also damage the company's own reputation.
The pre-sale was suspended for an hour, and the transaction page was opened again after Amazon added a limit of two units per user.
However, the 50,000 units that have already been sold will definitely have an impact on Amazon's continuous supply. What's more, even if restrictions are imposed, it is actually very simple to break this restriction. As long as you have enough patience, register more A few accounts will do. The key to solving this matter is ultimately Firefly Electronics, so Jeff Bezos flew from Seattle to San Francisco to meet with Victor McNairy, introduced the situation he encountered, and hoped that Firefly Electronics will increase its monthly supply to Amazon by at least 50,000 units.
Electronics retailers across the United States are queuing up for the supply of Firefly electronics. Give Amazon 50,000 more units, and physical retailers will definitely complain. Victor McNairy naturally disagrees with Jeff Bezos’ request , Bill Olsen, who has a somewhat impatient personality, also had a dispute with Jeff Bezos. Finally, Jeff Bezos proposed to call Eric and let him make a decision. Seeing that Jeff Bezos had to stay in San Francisco, Victor McNally had to call Eric in London. Rick here.
After getting a preliminary understanding of the ins and outs of the matter on the phone, Eric rushed back to his residence on Kensington Garden Street and held a video conference with Victor McNally, Jeff Bezos and others in San Francisco. After discussing late into the night, under Eric's mediation, the two sides finally came up with a compromise plan. Amazon's supply volume will increase by another 25,000 units, and this matter is barely resolved.
In fact, Eric felt helpless.
The technical content of the Fireflyer player is indeed not too high, but it is a brand new electronic product after all. It is impossible to be like CD players, mobile phones and other electronic devices that have been around for many years. If necessary, just contact the appropriate OEM Manufacturers can achieve a burst of production capacity in just a few months. Because it is a brand new product, the Fireflyer player will not only be limited by the supply of components, but the assembly plant and production line of the product also need to be built from scratch. In addition, there are various issues such as employee training. If you want to achieve an explosion in production capacity, The cycle is several times that of traditional electronic products.
Although the problem between Firefly Electronics and Amazon was temporarily resolved through remote video conferencing, Eric had no intention of staying in London and decided to return to the United States ahead of schedule. There were indeed too many problems that he needed to solve personally.
It is impossible to complete the selection of the Spice Girls without two or three months, and then he only needs to come over again.
So, the next day, Eric boarded the Boeing 767 that Drew leased from ALC in Los Angeles.
Since she was very satisfied with the trip to London, Yatou signed a long-term lease contract with ALC Company, contracted the Boeing 767, and planned to use it until her own Boeing 747 was delivered. Although the monthly rent is as high as 650,000 U.S. dollars, and not counting the fuel and other expenses for each flight, Eric has no objection. Perhaps the monthly rent of 650,000 U.S. dollars is unaffordable for ordinary rich people, but this Money is nothing to him. After all, when the planned purchase of several planes is delivered and two private airports are built on the east and west coasts, tens of millions of dollars will be spent on maintenance and other aspects every year.
When leaving the party last night, Eric asked Peter Rich to collect some Polygram information. Although the time was tight, Peter Ritchie sorted out several documents about PolyGram before Eric got on the plane.
The Boeing 767 took off from London Heathrow Airport. After a short period of discomfort just after take-off, the plane passed smoothly over the Atlantic Ocean. Eric sat by the window of the luxury suite in the cabin and looked at the Polaroid Gold profile.
Just as he did not expect that Polygram Records would be behind the Working-Title film company, Eric did not expect that Philips in the Netherlands would be the controlling shareholder of Polygram. His impression of Philips is basically only razors, and it seems that there are DVD players and the like.
But after reading the information carefully, Eric discovered that Philips at this time was still very large for the Netherlands. The company's business involved medical equipment, lighting equipment, household appliances, entertainment media, etc., completely complete. It's all a mini General Electric. In 1996, Philips' annual revenue reached 108.5 billion Dutch guilders, which is close to 37 billion U.S. dollars.
The purpose of Philips getting involved in the recording industry is the same as that of Japan's Sony, to promote its own music player products. In the early 1980s, PolyGram was jointly held by Philips and Siemens of Germany. Subsequently, Philips bought all the shares of PolyGram from Siemens in the late 1980s and listed it on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the Netherlands. At present, Philips still owns 75% of the shares of PolyGram, and the other 15% of the shares are tradable shares.
Based on recent share prices, PolyGram has a market capitalization of $9.7 billion.
Just seeing this number, Eric has given up the idea of buying Polygram, not because he can't afford it, but because it's not worth it at all.
With a market value of US$9.7 billion, the final transaction value will certainly not be less than US$10 billion.
Although if Firefly wants to take over, it can easily acquire this record company by using a combination of capital and stock transactions, but if it is only for the copyright of songs in the hands of Polygram, doing so is probably the same as Sony in the original time and space. In order to promote the Blu-ray format, it is almost the same as buying MGM. Sony bought MGM a few years ago, and the streaming media era came. Both Sony’s Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD have become tasteless. And now, with the rise of the Internet, the era of digital music has arrived without waiting a few more years.
Moreover, according to PolyGram's 1996 annual financial report, the record giant's annual operating income last year was US$3.6 billion, but its net profit was only US$337.8 million. It will take thirty years to recover the investment after buying this company. (To be continued.)