Chapter 482: Guilt
Strictly speaking, Captain Hawke has not failed in business, and even achieved some profit, but this is achieved by consuming Spielberg’s personal reputation and far below the industry’s original estimate. The profit of 200 million US dollars, therefore, "Captain Hawke" can also be said to be a very failed work.
Martin Davis is clear about these situations, but he doesn't want to be taken to other places by Eric with Captain Hawke: "Eric, Sony and Panasonic bought Columbia and Universal You have not cooperated with them. If so, what is not possible with Paramount, this is a win-win situation."
Eric smiled silently, looking at Martin Davis: "Martin, you should know that the situation is very different from what it was a few years ago."
When working with Colombia and the world, the fireflies are still quite weak, and they can only rely on the distribution channels of the two major film companies to enhance their own strength. Now the situation is completely different. The firefly's strength and status are completely equal to the other six. If you don't see enough benefits, you can only cooperate with some of Viacom's old grievances and Paramount. It is equal to helping your own competitors.
Martin Davis certainly understands this, but he has long considered relevant issues and quickly said: "Eric, remember the "Fighting Condor" you worked with Fox?"
Eric nodded lightly, faintly aware of what Martin Davis wanted to say.
"Paramount also has some movie project reserves. We can imitate the cooperation mode of "Fighting Condor", you only need to pick out the project and participate in the investment, the other is done by Paramount. What do you think?"
Most Hollywood movies usually have a long project incubation period. This stage usually starts from the selection of a book or a script by the producer until the film is officially started. It often takes a long time to modify the script to find Investors, looking for directors and actors, more than 90% of the projects may be aborted during the incubation period of the project, and will not be able to shoot more than 10%. After all, it's relative to the investment of millions of dollars. The story on paper is not worth the money.
The project reserve mentioned by Martin Davis is the film project at this stage.
After hearing this suggestion, Eric looked a little and moved for a moment. I nodded. "This is not something that can't be considered, but Martin, you must know about the sequel to "The Fighting Condor." If you cooperate, I will definitely not be able to agree on the last condition."
"Of course, everything can be talked about," Martin Davis immediately smiled. "Eric, I have already prepared the information, and I will let you send it to you."
"There is one more point. If there are no projects that satisfy me..." Eric said, shrugged at Martin Davis and made a look that you understood. He was only curious about Paramount's copyright library. . However, the original copy of the most successful "Forrest Gump" and "Mission Impossible" series in the 1990s is now in the flower studio, so Eric does not hold the copyright library of Paramount. Too big to expect.
The crew also had a regular meeting in the evening, and after Eric had eaten dinner, he left Martin Martin to leave the restaurant.
Early the next morning, Eric just got up and the door was hurriedly ringing.
"Eric. You look at this first," Allen entered. The first time I handed over the things in my hand.
Eric took a look at it and was a copy of the newspaper faxed from Los Angeles.
"Martin Davis went to the Hawaiian Secret Society Williams, and there was a major cooperation between the two defenses."
Under the title of Black, Martin Davis is attached to the filming of Jurassic Park, and the last photo taken with Eric.
Allen followed Eric into the room and closed the door and said: "I met a reporter outside the studio yesterday. I thought it was an ordinary paparazzi. I don’t care. It seems that it should be Martin Davie. Arranged, New York, after the stock market opened today, because of the news, Paramount’s share price has risen by 1.2 percentage points in a short time. I have already received several calls to ask about this, Hansen. The gentleman came over at four in the morning," Allen said, handing a memo to Eric: "This is a communication record."
Eric took the contact list and looked at it. The executives of the Firefly system listed a string, and the other list appeared longer. Eric raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was just six o'clock in the morning of Hawaii local time. Los Angeles was three hours earlier than Hawaii. It was only just after work, and these people responded quickly enough. Fortunately, Eric did not disclose the number of his room to too many people. The few people who knew it knew his situation very well. He didn’t call it when he was not bright, but turned to 'harassing' Allen, otherwise he I must have been woken up long ago.
I was going to call Jeffrey first to explain the situation, and the phone ringing in the room finally rang.
"Hello, I am Eric Williams... Jeffrey, good morning, I just want to call you..."
Briefly introduced the situation, Eric hung up the phone and handed the memo to Allen Road: "The firefly has no problem here. Others, please help me block it, saying that Martin Davis is coming to Hawaii. On vacation, I happened to meet."
Allen nodded and couldn't help but ask: "Eric, do we really want to work with Paramount?"
"What do you mean?" Eric did not answer immediately, but asked one.
Allen just heard Eric's explanation of Jeffrey. After thinking about it, he said, "I don't think cooperation is a good choice now. Fireflies are now completely equal to the other six." The cake is only that big, even if it is the cooperation mode of "The Fighting Condor", it will definitely bring competition to itself."
"You are right, but rest assured. Allen, this thing is completely unrecognizable, and even if it is cooperation. It must be guaranteed that the firefly may be of sufficient interest."
Allen raised his fax: "What about this?"
"Just when this is not the case, Martin Davis has promoted this matter. There is no harm to us. It should be that Lei Shidong or Barry Diller is right," said this. Eric couldn't help but smiled: "So, maybe it will bring some unexpected gains. No matter what, we will not suffer."
......
"Mr. Malone." Outside the door of QVC's ceo office, seeing a middle-aged man dressed in a neat suit looking meticulous, Barry Diller's assistant stood up and greeted him.
John Malone had a constant face and knocked a few times on the door. Just pushed the door and went in. The assistant just opened his mouth, but did not dare to block the big boss of the qvc parent company remote communication.
"Barry, have you contacted Eric Williams?"
Barry Diller, who was sitting at the desk and reading the documents, looked at John Malone and said: "Eric’s assistant just gave me a call and said that Martin Davis was only traveling to Hawaii, and the two happened to meet. on."
"It happened, oh, how could there be such a clever thing," John Malone smiled disdainfully. Suddenly I remembered what Barry Diller had just said: "So, you didn't personally call Williams?"
"No, my friendship with him has not reached the point where he can call him personally," Barry Diller said faintly.
John Malone heard that Barry Diller’s tone was a bit of a sigh of relief, and he couldn’t help but say: “Barry, you should cheer up. The proposal to buy Paramount was made by you personally. It’s just a little setback. ""
“Is it really a small setback?” Barry Diller glanced at John Malone in a cold voice and said, “You have gone to Los Angeles four times in the past few months. I guess Martin Davis has even got me personally. Drafting the acquisition plan, John. You told me, I guess right?"
At the end of the day, Barry Diller had already had a lingering anger in his tone. He was not afraid of the enemy, nor was he afraid of setbacks. He only felt chilling at the betrayal of his allies. In the past few months, Barry Diller’s several temptations against Paramount have been blocked, and they have acted as if they had previously taken precautions against Barry Diller.
After realizing the problem, Barry Diller immediately made a relevant investigation and then easily discovered the truth of the matter. Although the telecommunications company, one of the parent companies, has already authorized QVC to acquire Paramount, John Malone has played the idea of being a singer, and John Malone has not concealed his intentions. I visited Martin Davis’s office in person many times in a row.
Therefore, Barry Diller can guess the ins and outs of things in a short time. The details of his acquisition plan are only Comcast's cean Brian Roberts and telecom boss John Malone, of course, Barry. Diller's own team, but he can be sure that his team will not go wrong, and John Malone is doing something too obvious.
John Malone heard Barry Diller’s obvious accusation, and his face shook his head unchanged: "Barry, I think you must have made a mistake. I went to visit Martin Davis, and it was also for the acquisition."
"It was for the telecom acquisition of Paramount, not qvc to acquire Paramount, right?"
John Malone was a bit too angry with Barry Diller’s chasing tone. He said, “Even if this is a fact, Barry, I also gave you the opportunity, but you have not made any progress in the past few months. , isn't it?"
Barry Diller was almost laughed at by the other side's ingenuity. If it wasn't for the other party's betrayal, he would disclose his acquisition plan. Barry Diller could confirm that qvc can at least acquire a certain percentage of Paramount from the secondary market. Shares to achieve the purpose of entering the board of directors.
Although John Malone is always a meticulous gentleman, Barry Diller knows that this is just a representation. What kind of person is the other person, has been revealed from the words of rogue.
The acquisition of Paramount, returning to the long-lost office as the owner, is Barry Diller’s long-cherished wish, and Barry Diller does not have this capital himself. He can only rely on telecom and Conca. Sterling's funds.
Therefore, the two men looked at each other for a while, and Barry Diller sighed in the heart and took the lead in a compromise: "John, even if Paramount cooperates with Firefly, it can't change anything. The cooperation between them is at best only for us to spend some more. Our real enemies are Martin Davis and Summer Rasto, with my understanding of Martin Davis, he does not want to sell Pella at all. Mongolia, so even if you spend a year in his office, this situation is not likely to change. If you want to win Paramount, you only have to force the acquisition. In this regard, Summerer’s The style is even harder. From the Viacom acquisition in the 1980s and the Disney acquisition last year, it can be seen that Summer Rastone is a man who dares to put all his chips."
Having said that, Barry Diller paused and looked at John Malone with a disappointing expression: "Somer. Redstone is using last year's financing to seek a controlling stake in Blockbuster. With the huge cash flow of Blockbuster, we will have no advantage in the bidding. At the same time, Martin Davis has started to contact Williams to seek cooperation and self-insurance. They are all working hard for their own goals, then look at us. What are we doing," Barry Diller excitedly hammered the table and screamed: "And we, but inside!"
"Mr. Diller, what happened?" Hearing the muffled noise in the office, Barry Diller's assistant worried that the two would fight and slightly opened the door and asked.
Barry Diller hasn't spoken yet, but John Malone has turned his head and shouted at the assistant and said, "Get out, let you come in."
The assistant was scared to his neck and looked at Barry Diller. After getting the other person’s eyes, he retired.
Quiet again in the office, John Malone quietly pulled out two cigars and handed them to Barry Diller, who ignited silently and took a sip.
"Brian Roberts is not enthusiastic about the acquisition of Paramount, just because of your reasons, they agreed to the acquisition plan, telecommunications does not want Comcast to take advantage of this ride, so I don't think I did something wrong, and even if the telecom separately acquired Paramount, I personally would like you to take the helm."
"I have said to many people that I will not sign another employment contract," Barry Diller retorted in the blue smoke. He held a stake in QVC and held the agreement according to the original agreement. The control of qvc, the acquisition of Paramount in the name of qvc, he is the master. But if the parent company's telecommunications company acquired Paramount, what is the relationship with him? (To be continued)