Chapter 867: unstable factor
Three days after the wedding, more than a dozen executives of Eric and the Firefly system started a three-day meeting in a vacant barn on the farm. The theme of the meeting was not too formal, Eric was only Initially gave everyone a theme of 'digital life in the Internet age', let everyone prepare a related speech according to the areas they are in charge of, and then everyone will improvise together.
Firefly Investment's Cisco, AOL and Yahoo have formed a complete industry chain in Internet technology. The layout of the future mobile Internet era based on companies such as Qualcomm, Sprint and Nokia has also been initially completed, as long as they are invested by Firefly. Being able to achieve synergy perfectly and maintain a strong market position in the corresponding field for a long time, then the future fireflies will control a large and horrific high-tech business empire, which is bound to be a global economic governance pattern. The influence of the lifestyle of the average person is small.
However, during the three-day meeting, Eric also found instability in the firefly system.
On May 24th, this was the second day after the meeting. John Chambers, Ian Gurney and others all rushed to the White House to attend the banquet according to the invitation of Clinton on the wedding day. Eric and Chris did not go to join in the fun.
In a small pasture outside the farm, Eric and Chris leaned close to the fence on the outskirts of the ranch.
Jeffrey is walking a little pony on the grass field, Emma is excited to ride on the horse and waving a small hand, Joanna carefully guards the side, Emily and Virginia are carrying The other two little guys are standing near to chat.
Quietly looking at this warm scene for a while, Eric took the thick record of the meeting in his hand. This is the meeting content that Eric asked several assistants to record in real time in the previous three days. The speech of online CEO Steve Case, the 'Internet Media Development Advantage of Internet Enterprises', is the object of Eric's distress.
In the original layout plan, AOL was responsible for the role of the network service provider in the original ‘Information Industry Alliance’ program. The future direction of AOL should also be toward the comprehensive telecom operators like AT-T. Eric even talked to Steve Case and hopes that AOL will acquire Verizon or Sprint in the next few years. One of the two established telecommunications companies, if possible, can also expand to cable operators.
Eric has not restricted the development of AOL's online business in the future, and even spared no effort to provide a lot of technical support, because it is clear that the Internet business such as portals and online mailboxes will play a role in the bubble boost of AOL's stock price in the next few years. At present, in the online business such as pure portals, Yahoo's market share in this field is 70%, followed by AOL, with a market share of around 10%, and latecomers such as Microsoft. Share the last 20%.
But perhaps it’s the spur of the madness of the Internet concept in recent years. As you can see from Steve Case’s speech, he is obviously more inclined to let AOL develop towards content providers, even to the original time and space. The old road of annexing Time Warner has made AOL a comprehensive Internet media group.
Although there is a unified mind of Hollywood, Eric does not want to see this happen.
No one knows better than him. The booming Internet industry is just a big bubble. In memory, due to the deviation from the initial development of network service providers, AOL can be said to be the fastest-decicating company after the Internet bubble burst.
More importantly, once AOL deviates from its established trajectory, Eric's carefully crafted industrial chain layout over the years will have a 'fault'.
In the light of these things, Eric first said: "According to yesterday's closing stock price, AOL's market value has exceeded 20 billion US dollars?"
Chris nodded and said: "The stock price at the close of yesterday was $138, with a total market value of 20.7 billion. The number of shares we hold is 45 million shares, still 30%. Oh, the clover should also absorb a lot? ”
Eric thought for a moment and said: "There are more than 3 million shares over there."
"This is 32%, but although we are the largest shareholder, we have no absolute control," Chris said. "According to the current market value of AOL, we are not likely to come up with enough funds to pursue absolute control. ”
Eric also showed a bitter smile. It was a mistake when I did not hold AOL in my hands.
When I first entered AOL, many things were just getting started. Eric had no such ambitions at the moment, and even invested heavily in speculative mentality, expecting the other party to sell stock arbitrage when the stock price rose.
The original decision also posed a hidden danger to the current control of AOL.
At the moment, Internet-related businesses are clearly more popular with investors than traditional telecommunications services. Therefore, if Steve Cases insists on developing online media business, even as the largest shareholder of AOL, Ai Rick did not dare to guarantee 100% of the position of Steve Case.
Self-deprecating shook his head, Eric asked Chris: "If we now drive Steve Case out of AOL and gain control, how confident can it be?"
Chris knocked on the stake next to him and thought about it. "Under 40%, AOL is now very strong. The board will not agree that we will make a big move to management."
The situation in AOL is great, and Eric also wants to make news that management and major shareholders are not in line.
However, according to Steve Case's development thinking, once AOL focuses on the Internet media business that is inflated by the bubble but does not actually have much development prospects, if the bubble bursts, the AOL stocks held by Firefly will also Was quickly returned to the prototype. Although Yahoo currently has a large part of its focus on Internet media content, Eric’s positioning of Yahoo has always been a technology company. Yahoo’s secret search engine business is the future of this company, but survives. AOL, which is based entirely on network access services, is clearly unable to transform into this area, and Eric will not allow AOL to transform into this.
After hesitating for a while, Eric asked again: "So, if we choose to withdraw in the next few years?"
If you can't control the development direction of AOL in the end, it is undoubtedly the best result if you choose to withdraw cash when the stock price is at a high level.
"The total value of stocks we hold is more than $6 billion. This stock is going to be shot. Selling directly in the circulation market will have a big impact on stock prices. The best way is to choose institutional orders, but it involves $6 billion. The huge amount of money, this is not an easy task.” Chris shook his head and smiled, and then said: “Not to mention, according to the current situation, AOL’s share price is far from reaching its peak, in the next year or two. The 30% of the stock market value will be even more expensive."
In memory, the market value of AOL's peak period exceeded $160 billion. In Eric's view, the bubble level is even more than 80%. Therefore, Eric will be content even if he can cash in 10% of the shares at a high level. If the huge $16 billion in funds can be cashed out, and after the Internet bubble bursts, Eric can still use the money to make up for the damage caused by AOL's off-track to the Firefly Information Industry Alliance program.
Of course, if AOL can follow the established track of the Firefly system, even if it will still be affected by the bursting of the Internet bubble, Eric will not choose to cash out.
However, these will definitely be a year or two later.
"Forget it, Steve will not do anything in the end. We are better off doing what we can do now."
Chris nodded: "I will take some measures to win the support of other shareholder representatives on the board. If necessary, we will try to remove Steve Case as much as possible. In addition, AOL and Yahoo are in many ways. The cooperation is very close, do you think you need to limit it in this regard?"
"No, AOL is not a threat to Yahoo," Eric shook his head. "Restricting AOL will only affect our own interests and create opportunities for other competitors."
"Well, that's the way it is."
Although the US online board has 30% of the voting rights, in the end, Eric decided to temporarily allow AOL to 'savage growth', and everything depends on what Steve Case will eventually choose. If the other party insists on developing the online media business, Firefly will try to remove the other party. If the management fails, the firefly will opt out as much as possible before the bubble bursts.
Of course, if Steve Case makes AOL develop to the established trajectory, the outcome will naturally be happy. After all, after acquiring a traditional telecom operator, AOL will continue to maintain its strength in the field of network service providers after the bubble burst. Status, while also expanding the business to mobile communications and other aspects. But if Time Warner is acquired like the original time and space, once the bubble bursts, AOL, which is basically incompatible with Time Warner's own business, is destined to quickly fall.
Stayed in Maryland for two more days, and Eric returned to Los Angeles on May 27.
At this time, the 1997 North American summer file has kicked off.
This summer's opening film in North America should be regarded as the fifth element of Luc Besson's preparation for many years. This sci-fi blockbuster cost 450 million francs, equivalent to nearly 90 million US dollars, which is the highest cost of production in Europe so far. .
Before the release in North America, "The Fifth Element" has been opened in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and other regions, and achieved a good box office score.
Due to the cooperation between the two parties in "This killer is not too cold", Gao Meng Film Company originally hoped that Firefly could undertake the North American release of "The Fifth Element".
However, Eric is not optimistic about the commercial potential of this film. The memory of this movie is completely polarized, and the box office will not be too good. What's more, the film's copyright in the hands of Gao Meng Film Company, only responsible for the role of a film North American publisher, does not meet the interests of fireflies, so Eric chose to refuse.
After all, it was a special effects blockbuster. Although Firefly was not interested in the distribution rights, Eric introduced it to Fox. If you do a good job of publicity, such a popular CG special effects movie in recent years, the North American box office is still very easy. Only Fox and Gaomeng Film Company did not agree on the distribution share. Eventually, the distribution rights fell into the hands of Sony Pictures.
Then, Gao Meng Film Company was obviously pitted.
Since "Godzilla" will also be released in this summer file, Sony Pictures will use almost all of its distribution resources on this highly anticipated super monster movie. The "Five Elements" not only failed to get the month of July and July. The golden period, in terms of the scale of film marketing, is far from being comparable to Sony's own Godzilla.
In the end, after the fifth element was released on May 16, the first week of the box office was only more than 22 million US dollars. Due to this 'congenital deficiency' situation, the film's box office decline was only 30%, but it was taken into account. In June, a series of large-scale bombings, the "Five Elements" North American box office is likely to stay between 60 million to 70 million, far from the expectations of Gao Meng Film Company. In the most important box office market in North America, the performance was lost. Gaomeng Film Company wanted to recover the production cost of 90 million US dollars. The hope is also very embarrassing.
The encounter of "The Fifth Element" is actually one of the reasons why European commercial films cannot rise.
European countries such as Britain, France, Germany and other countries have very limited film market capacity and cannot support the survival of a large film company. Although Gaomeng Film Company is the largest commercial film production company in France, it is in Hollywood, Gaomeng Film Company. The scale can only be regarded as the second and third line. Such a film company, even in the United States, is not enough to support the production and distribution of the "Fifth Element" film of this size. As an outsider, Gaomeng Film Company is even more difficult to succeed.
Eric returned to Los Angeles, and the first film of the Firefly Summer File "Air Prison" will be officially released on May 30. At the same time, this film will also face the "Lion King 2" made by Paramount. .
Some media apparently have not forgotten the information about the joint killing of Firefly and Fox in "Lion King 2" at the beginning of the month. Everyone is looking forward to the result of the confrontation between "Air Prison" and "Lion King 2".
However, Eric’s mind has not completely turned to the film, and it has welcomed two visitors from San Francisco, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs.