The last big-budget release at the end of May was "The Truman Show," starring Jim Carrey, produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Next will be "The Day After Tomorrow" by Firefly Pictures. Therefore, Eric is quite concerned about this film by Kim Ruikai.
Despite the failure of "The Cable TV Repairman", in recent years, Jim Carrey has still sat firmly on the front line in Hollywood. Even for the literary and artistic "The Truman Show", Jim Carrey still got 1200 Because of this high salary base, "The Truman Show" has also been piled up into a big production with a cost of 60 million US dollars.
On a plane to New York on Monday.
Eric sat relaxed by the porthole and looked at the last weekend's box office report in his hand.
The box office of "The Truman Show" in the first weekend was 31.19 million U.S. dollars, which is comparable to the performance of "Lethal Weapon 4" and "Patriot" in the previous two weeks. It is expected that the box office in the first week will also be around 50 million U.S. dollars.
As long as it can maintain a decent box office curve, Paramount can still make a small profit. As for the other "Lethal Weapon 4" and "Patriot", due to the average drop of about 40% in a single week, they no longer pose any threat to "The Day After Tomorrow", which will be released this Friday.
The new version of "The Day After Tomorrow" is directed by Michael Bay. Eric has already seen the finished film. Since he wrote the script himself, compared with Roland Emmerich's version, the new version is no longer as procrastinating as the original version. , Moreover, Bangbei, which pays attention to visual experience, made the picture of the entire North America encountering ice even more shocking. In addition, this is the only blockbuster film of the Firefly Group this summer, which has concentrated most of the company's marketing resources. No one doubts that this special effects blockbuster will become a blockbuster that ignites the entire summer.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Eric's Boeing 767 landed at MacArthur Airport in the middle of Long Island. As usual, Caroline and Mayer were sent to Manhattan, and Eric rushed to East Hampton. He planned to spend two weeks in New York, one week for business and one week for the women and children.
However, although he wanted to take a break first, Chris hurried over from Manhattan the next day.
In the morning, on the lawn of the manor, the weather is not bad today.
Chris came down to the backyard lawn under the guidance of Joanna, and saw Eric taking three children to make insect specimens, Kevin and Emma were playing with great interest, and Hawaii was obviously absent-minded. Seeing his mother bringing Chris over, Hawaii immediately got up and greeted sweetly: "Good morning, Uncle Chris, do you want to talk to Dad?"
The little girl blinked her eyes and almost said something like 'Uncle Chris, please take my father away'.
With a smile on his face, Chris shook his head solemnly: "No, I'm here to accompany you to make insect specimens."
Hearing this answer, Hawaii frowned, feeling very distressed, how could these grown-ups be so bored, and what's worse, they insisted on dragging themselves.
Eric put down the tools in his hand, got up and hugged Chris, and said to Joanna: "Joan, you can play with them."
Joanna nodded, watched Eric and Chris leave, then sat down where Eric had just been, pampered her restless daughter, and said: "Xia Xia, you promised mom, Get along well with Dad, don't always be so impatient."
"But, mother, these things are really boring. Can I go back to reading now?"
Joanna shook her head and said, "No, I told Manny, she won't come over to help you with class this week, I also put away your books, oh, and Steve gave you Keypad. You've scared your daddy, so, at least for a week, be nice."
"Well."
The delicate little girl with beautiful big eyes who just turned five years old snorted in distress, lying lazily on the table full of handmade props, feeling that life is boring.
On the other side, Chris followed Eric back to the living room of the villa, sat down on the sofa, and asked with a smile, "Have you been surprised again this time?"
"If you mean seeing a five-year-old girl reading "Differential Topology" with gusto," Eric shrugged and nodded with a wry smile: "That's true, if it wasn't for Xia Xia's tutor Explain to me what differential topology is, and I have no idea what my daughter is reading. Although, well, even if she explained it, I still don’t know what it is.”
"Haha," Chris couldn't help laughing, and after a while, he said, "I really look forward to seeing what Xia Xia will look like when she grows up. Well, maybe I should let Daniel and Xia Xia get along more now, and it will be better in the future." Marry home and be your daughter-in-law."
Eric still smiled helplessly. Of course he expected his child to be very smart, but it seemed a bit too much now.
After chatting and joking, the two quickly turned to the topic.
"Counting our original holdings, the purchase of Firefly Investment and Clover Fund in the first half of the year, we now hold a total of 35.7% of AOL's shares. At present, AOL's tradable shares have basically been swept away by major investment funds. It is impossible to increase our shareholding ratio. During this period of time, I have been in contact with other shareholders of AOL, but the results are not very good. The achievements of Steve Case are obvious to all, everyone Some shareholders are more inclined to the development strategy of the existing management."
Since its establishment, AOL has been financing from various investment companies. It was not until Firefly invested in that AOL’s equity structure was basically stabilized. The current situation is that the management of AOL, including Steve Case, holds less than 10% of AOL shares in total. Except for Firefly, the major shareholder, other shares are concentrated in the hands of major investment funds.
According to yesterday's closing price, the current market value of AOL has reached 39.6 billion US dollars, compared with the beginning of the year, the market value has increased by 1.77 times. In other words, every one percent of AOL's shares is now worth close to 400 million US dollars. Even if major investment funds are willing to continue to transfer AOL's shares, it is impossible for Firefly to spend enough money to buy them in a big way.
Tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest of the sofa, Eric thought about it for a while and asked, "If we show our cards now, what is the possibility of seizing control of AOL?"
Chris thought for a while, and said: "50%, now there are rumors that AOL has merged with Time Warner. If the news is confirmed, our side is more likely to lose, and many people are very happy to see it. AOL merged with Time Warner."
Although it is the largest shareholder of America Online, holding 35.7% of the shares, Firefly wants to launch a shareholder vote to oust the existing management when the situation in America Online is doing well. The possibility of failure is indeed very high. big. Because most of AOL's shareholders are institutional investors, and the number is not large, it is very easy to twist a rope to resist Firefly Investment, the major shareholder.
Of course, Firefly is not without its own trump card, which is to threaten other shareholders to stand on its side by selling stocks. Once the AOL stock held by the Firefly system is sold off in a big way, it will be enough to crash the stock price of AOL.
However, unless it is a last resort, Eric will never use this method. Doing so will not benefit anyone, and may even cause a chain reaction, causing shocks in the entire Nasdaq market.
The Nasdaq index is now close to 2,000 points, which seems to be far away from the previous high of 5,000 points, but in fact, this stock index is already full of bubbles.
Take Microsoft, the most representative of the Nasdaq market, for example. In 1995, when the Nasdaq index was maintained at around 1,000 points, Microsoft’s market value was only more than 40 billion U.S. dollars, but now, the Nasdaq index is rising. By 2000, Microsoft's recent market capitalization had exceeded 250 billion, a surge of more than six times compared to three years ago.
If Firefly Investment wants to make AOL shareholders succumb, it will really smash AOL stock. As the leading star stock in the Nasdaq market, Eric is very worried that the drop in AOL's stock price will become the trigger for the early collapse of the entire Nasdaq market. If so, Firefly may face the hostility of the entire Wall Street .
As for why America Online insisted on taking the development route of an Internet service provider, Eric had discussed it with Chris in detail.
The number of AOL users has grown very rapidly in recent years. It is estimated that around 2000, AOL's installed broadband users will reach 20 million, which is far more than several traditional network service operators such as AT-T and Verizon.
Therefore, basic Internet services are the foundation of AOL. As long as it can have 20 million users, according to the average tariff standard of 30 US dollars per month, these users will bring AOL a stable revenue of 7.2 billion US dollars a year.
Under such a favorable situation, if it can go further and annex a traditional telecom operator, further consolidate its position in the industry, and expand other basic service businesses, even if the Internet bubble bursts in the future, AOL can still sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.
However, according to Steve Case's development ideas, building AOL into the largest Internet media giant in the United States is tantamount to throwing everything at the bottom.
History has also proved this point. When the Internet bubble burst, the Internet media empire piled up by AOL quickly disappeared. Due to the various personnel and financial crises brought about by the bursting of the bubble, internal neglect of basic network services, and the joint strangulation of several traditional giants, more than 20 million Internet users of AOL also quickly flowed to several other companies. In the end, when Time Warner sold AOL again, the Internet giant with the highest market capitalization of US$180 billion was only worth a measly US$4 billion.
In fact, Eric felt that AOL shareholders were very lucky in the previous transaction. They converted their stocks into 'AOL-Time Warner' shares at the highest point of the company's stock price, so Well, when AOL disappears, they actually still own shares of Time Warner, so they won't be empty-handed. As for the original Time Warner shareholders, huh, huh.
Speaking of which, if AOL's acquisition of Time Warner can still be concluded this time, even if it is based on a 50-50 split, then Firefly Investment's shareholding in Time Warner will be close to 18%. This is definitely a new "AOL" - Time Warner's largest shareholder, also in line with Eric's ambition to expand to the entire Hollywood.
However, abandoning the opportunity to become the largest Internet service provider in the United States in exchange for an 18% stake in Time Warner Group is definitely a big loss business, and Eric does not want to see this kind of expansion anyway.
"50% is 50%." Finally, Eric said: "Time Warner has been in contact with AOL's top management very frequently, so we must come up with a decision as soon as possible, and we can't delay like this."
Chris nodded, and said again: "So, Eric, it's great to succeed, but if you fail, what are you going to do?"
Eric didn't hesitate much this time, and said: "If it fails, then we will gradually withdraw from now on, and sell as many stocks as we can."
Chris naturally knew what Eric meant. The Nasdaq market will crash sooner or later. Once the stock market crashes, AOL and these star stocks in the Nasdaq market will definitely bear the brunt. Firefly can only sell as many stocks as possible to cash out funds before this date arrives.
As for becoming a shareholder of the new AOL-Time Warner in the future, Eric is not interested at all.
Once the Nasdaq market crashed, Time Warner became a complete quagmire. Even if the market value of Time Warner is calculated at 50 billion US dollars, if you get 18% of the shares, the value will only be 9 billion US dollars. Even now, the value of Firefly System's 35.7% stake in AOL has far exceeded this figure. What's more, 18% of the shares are not enough to seize control of Time Warner.
The two chatted all morning without knowing it. After lunch, Chris left in a hurry and began to prepare for the planned showdown at the end of this month. At that time, Eric may come to New York again.
The work week flew by while Eric stayed in East Hampton to prevent his daughter from turning into a ghost.
On Friday, June 5th, the first special effects blockbuster of this summer, "The Day After Tomorrow", was officially launched simultaneously on 3,370 screens in North America.
The first day of the film received 23.5 million US dollars. Eric's carefully revised script and Michael Bay's good visual effects made the film's reputation also popular. Most of the media gave an evaluation of about 8 points, far exceeding the previous ones. Roland Emmerich version.
After a good start of $23.5 million on the first day, the film won a box office of $73.75 million in three days in the first weekend, becoming the first blockbuster movie in the summer file that caused a wave of movie viewing. According to the box office data in the first three days of the weekend, Michael Bay will have no suspense that he will get his first movie with a box office of over 100 million in the first week.