America 1982.

Chapter 229 Boiler Room Tucker

Tommy had never paid attention to these past events in Hollywood before, nor did he care much about which one of Steve Ross and Barry Diller would dominate Hollywood in the past decade. However, the name of another Jewish man that came out of Herbert's mouth sounded very familiar to him.

Michael Eisner, Chairman and CEO of Disney.

He is the man who was Barry Diller's favorite student as described by Herbert. After the master and apprentice fell out, he was helped by Steve Ross of Warner and persuaded the Disney board of directors to offer him the job of Chairman and CEO of Disney.

In his previous life, this Jewish film tycoon was invited to give lectures at many business schools around the world, including the Boston University School of Business where Tommy studied. Tommy even bought a signed autobiography from the tycoon at the lecture site.

He was in charge of Disney for 21 years, and transformed a film company that was barely at the bottom of the six major Hollywood studios and had a market value of barely over $2 billion when he took over into the Disney Kingdom, which had annual revenue of more than $3 billion, a market value of nearly $50 billion, a global presence, multiple theme parks, and nearly a thousand Disney stores when he resigned.

The 21 years that Michael Eisner was in charge of Disney are known as Disney's Renaissance. In the company's development history recorded on Disney's own website, its importance is second only to Walt Disney's creation of the Disney brand.

In other words, it was this dictatorial madman who was always unwilling to give up power and even sidelined the Disney board of directors who laid a solid foundation for Disney's rise in the new century. This is why Disney was able to acquire Pixar for 74 billion, Lucas for 40 billion, Marvel for 42 billion, and even Fox for 710 billion after he left, and it became so wealthy that it was almost on the verge of achieving the historical feat of dominating Hollywood.

It also made the Disney board of directors sincerely erect a monument for him as a living person. Disney's headquarters building in Berkeley was named the Michael Eisner Building by the Disney board of directors, even though Michael Eisner had been forced to resign by the board of directors at that time.

Even when the event was unveiled, the Disney board of directors specially asked an etiquette company to design the invitation letter, reviewed the text on the invitation letter word by word, and solemnly extended an invitation to Michael Eisner, hoping that he would honor them by returning to Disney headquarters so that Disney could thank him in person for all he had done for Disney over the years.

You know, Disney is the property of the Disney family, and the board of directors is controlled by a group of Disney family members. However, when it comes to the naming of the headquarters building, even Disney's grandfather, the founder of the family, did not enjoy this treatment. Instead, the name was given to an outsider. This shows the influence of Michael Eisner and the recognition of the Disney family for him.

However, Michael Eisner did not attend the unveiling ceremony of his own monument. He was as indifferent as when the Disney board of directors forced him to resign. After signing his agreement, he left the Disney headquarters office where he had worked for 21 years without any regrets. He even gave up a series of benefits provided by Disney that he could still enjoy according to the contract after his resignation, such as company business jet travel, medical insurance, housing rental subsidies, retirement allowances, etc., and cut off all ties with Disney.

Of course, Tommy doesn't have any idea about these famous Jewish tycoons in Hollywood, nor does he care about how those people fight. In addition to his lack of interest, another reason is that his current wealth and status do not allow him to have the idea of ​​dominating Hollywood.

Besides, the main issue Herbert discussed with him was not to trick him into spending money to make a movie, but that CNN's Turner hoped to acquire shares in his own BT Entertainment Production Company in the name of Warner, and then produce a few reality shows that the audience would be willing to pay to watch, which was a trivial matter that had nothing to do with the Hollywood scene.

As for the trust that Tommy mentioned to Herbert, it is actually a question of dominance. No matter whether it is a movie or a TV show, many producers are troubled by the sponsors who suddenly jump out to make decisions. Sponsors always feel that although they don’t understand the specific processes, they can make billions of dollars, so their brains should be enough and their business vision will never be wrong. So in the process of making a program, they suddenly come up with a self-proclaimed brilliant idea and want to give some seemingly stupid instructions to the more professional production team.

If the show is successful, everyone will be happy. If the ratings flop, the production team will have ruined its reputation.

So Tommy insisted on talking about the trust issue first. As for the real benefits, they would talk about it slowly after Mr. Turner could just pay the money and not say anything, and would definitely not give orders to Rick Luther, the gold medal vulgar reality show producer whom Tommy Hawke respected.

If you can't even afford trust, don't even think about the other party giving you other benefits.

CNN's Turner is certainly a successful businessman, but even though he is successful, he actually has some problems such as being too strong and lacking trust in his subordinates or partners. He is always in the habit of delegating power but then jumping out to make decisions.

For example, he is the owner of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. In theory, the daily management of the team is handled by a dedicated club manager, and the team's record is the responsibility of the head coach. As a team owner, after handing over these matters to professional managers and professional coaches, he only needs to sit happily in the first row of the sidelines to watch home games and hold regular meetings with the manager to understand issues such as the club's attendance and revenue.

But after buying the team, Turner Jr. felt that as a die-hard baseball fan with decades of experience watching baseball games live, why did he need to hire a club manager at a high salary to help manage the team? Didn’t he buy the baseball team himself in the hope of creating a dynasty himself?

So, the tycoon held a team press conference and announced that he would serve as the team's club manager. If the head coach did not need a professional license, he might have announced on the spot that he would also serve as the team's head coach.

This press conference made Turner receive angry roars of "F*ck! Give me your money back" from hundreds of Atlanta fans present at the stadium that day.

The Atlanta Braves have been established for over a hundred years, and in the team's history of more than a hundred years, they have only won the championship once. They finally got a new owner, Turner Jr., who seemed to truly love baseball. Fans thought that the club had finally welcomed a sponsor who was willing to spend money to win the championship. But this guy came up and hit the fans in the face, telling everyone, the main purpose of spending money to buy the team was not to win the championship, but to satisfy the addiction of being a club manager and head coach.

This forced the Major League Baseball Committee to send a commissioner to meet with Turner Jr. the next day and tell him that the league had regulations that club managers were prohibited from holding shares in the team. If Turner Jr. insisted on serving as the team's club manager, he would have to give up the team's ownership and then apply to the new team owner to win the job of club manager.

After much thought, Turner felt that no club would be willing to hire a layman like him as a manager, so he finally announced his resignation from the managerial position indignantly.

Therefore, Turner Jr. is considered to be the team manager with the shortest career since the founding of the Atlanta Braves and even the Major League Baseball. He served for two days. During his career, the team's record was one loss and one game, with a winning rate of 0%.

Unable to experience the thrill of building a dynasty with his own hands, Turner Jr. began to inquire about the team's logo, jerseys and other design issues. He even tricked his star players into changing their last names or nicknames, and then printed them on their jerseys.

Most of the nicknames or surnames he helped to come up with contain the three letters CNN, and a small number are brand names of other sponsors. For example, the team star Andy Messersmith reported to reporters that the owner Turner Jr. invited him to dinner and asked him if he could apply to the league to change his surname, changing Messersmith to Corona.

The sports and entertainment news that Atlanta often sees is: Turner Jr. came up with an advertisement name for his outstanding MVP player today.

As a result, in the first few years after he bought the team, even though the team's performance was clearly in decline, the fans were closely united with the players, coaches, team doctors and even the manager. The fans expressed their feelings about the difficulties faced by the players and coaches, and the players and coaches were grateful for the understanding of the fans.

Because everyone who loves this team understands that the Atlanta Braves have only one real enemy right now, and that is owner Turner Jr.

Tommy doesn't want Rick Luther, the top reality TV talent from San Fernando who is working hard to make money for him, to think that he is ungrateful and sends a weirdo like Turner who likes to do everything himself to torture them.

After meeting with his father-in-law and Herbert Siegel, Tommy did not leave New York in a hurry, but went to meet with Wolf Tucker who was busy preparing a financial news network.

He knew that Wolf Tucker was under a lot of pressure recently. It was not work pressure, but the pressure from public opinion from those around him.

BT TV Network, Wolf Tucker led the team from the initial registration, to opening up the joints, to building the skeleton, he did it all himself. As a result, BT TV Network is now sought after by a large number of black people across the United States, but he has gained nothing.

At VOX News Network, it was Wolf Tucker and his team who worked hard all the way from leasing satellite bandwidth to launching the news network, but they were suddenly replaced by the Jewish Maurice Schoenfeld.

Now, Tommy asked Wolf Tucker to come to New York from Washington to prepare a financial news network.

Not only did the team members who followed Wolfe Tucker all the way complain, even his wife had complaints about it. They all felt that Tommy was just dangling a carrot in front of Wolfe, making him go around in circles like a stupid donkey, time and time again, helping Tommy reap endless success while he himself gained nothing.

According to what Tommy learned, there were large headhunting companies that offered Wolfe Tucker sky-high salaries and invited him to lead his team to switch jobs and seek better opportunities, but Wolfe turned them all down.

The place Wolfe chose to meet Tommy surprised Tommy a little. It was a Japanese business club.

It's not that Tommy was surprised why there was a Japanese business club in New York. After all, in order to export Japanese culture to the world in recent years, the Japanese have opened many Japanese restaurants and teahouses in the United States. What surprised Tommy was that Wolfe was a black man. He had only seen the scene of a black man wearing a Japanese bathrobe and walking into a teahouse in some Japanese sadomasochistic action movies in his previous life. This look gave him a sense of familiarity that he had not seen for a long time.

Seeing Wolfe kneeling in front of a low table in a pretentious manner, concentrating on appreciating the Japanese tea artist's brewing of tea, Tommy smiled and asked, "When did you start liking Japanese culture?"

"Tommy, you should learn to appreciate the cup of tea in front of you like me. This is called watching the tea." Wolfe put his hands on his waist, lowered his head, and stared at the teacup in front of him, as if he was preparing for the final preparation before committing seppuku. It was not until a long time later that he raised his head and smiled at Tommy and said, "It is very effective in relieving stress. It shows that although the United States hates Japan now, Japan still has its merits."

"That's fucking Chinese art, okay? Drinking tea is of course a habit that exists all over the world, but as an art, I think it should be considered Chinese art. When the Chinese were drinking tea, the Japanese were still arguing about whether their ancestors were exiled Chinese Taoist priests or a short man who had sex with a Hydra." Tommy didn't let his knees suffer as much as Wolfe did. He sat cross-legged opposite him and said with a smile:

“No one knows the art of tea better than me.”

The Japanese tea artist next to him frowned slightly when he heard Tommy's rude words, but he finally suppressed the urge to explain. He just took a few deep breaths, trying to ignore this rude guy, and continued to speak to Wolf Tucker in a strange Japanese English accent:

"Mr. Tucker, hold it in your hands and close your eyes to feel its aroma before tasting it. The moment you close your eyes and feel it, it will make you forget..."

"Hiss...hiss..." Before the tea artist could finish his words, a hissing sound of hot water was heard from Tommy's side. The sound was comparable to that of Japanese people eating ramen in the library, which destroyed all the artistic beauty.

Wolfe opened his eyes and the tea master turned his head to see Tommy holding the teacup and sipping hot tea.

"Tommy, respect the artist." Wolfe smiled helplessly at Tommy.

Tommy glanced at the tea artist and said, "Respect what? I told you, he doesn't know as much about tea art as I do. What are you observing when you observe tea?"

"The movement of tea leaves in water, the beauty of rising water mist?" Seeing Tommy's self-righteous expression, Wolfe was not sure whether this guy was bragging or really understood, so he looked at the tea artist and said guiltily.

Fortunately, the tea artist gave him a very affirmative look: "Mr. Tucker, you are very accurate."

"If steam has beauty, why do the black people working in the boiler room protest against the white people for letting them do this job that is so close to art? Hey, Japs." Tommy took out a cigarette and lit it, then glanced at the Japanese tea artist with disdain and said:
"Send me a cushion or something to put under my butt. My balls are almost frozen under my bathrobe and I'm going to catch a bad cold. I don't want them to have a runny nose in front of a big black man like Wolfe!"

"Sir, it is art..."

"Of course it is art. I don't deny it. Let me tell you what you should appreciate. You are appreciating your own life or the life of every human being. The tea leaves in it are like us. The boiling water in this cup is our world. We dance and stretch with the boiling water, showing our existence to the world. Sometimes we float to the surface of the water, and sometimes we fall to the bottom of the cup. Every rise and fall represents a wonderful experience in life. The tea leaves float and sink in the boiling water, just like the ups and downs of life. When the boiling water is calm, the tea leaves sink to the bottom of the cup, and everything returns to silence, just like we eventually lose our lives and become food for maggots." Tommy picked up the empty teacup and looked at Wolfe:

"That's fucking tea appreciation. You spent a lot of money just to let the Japanese teach you to appreciate steam? Isn't it better to buy a kettle at home and boil water with the lid open, Wolfe?"

"Or if you really think that burning boilers can relieve stress, I have a boiler room on my estate in Long Island, New York. If you want, you can go there part-time to burn boilers and appreciate the beauty every day. Since you are my friend, you don't have to pay for the entrance fee. You just need to bring your own coal. You can also meet a friend named Miller Martin, Boiler Room Tucker, Miller Martin. If you keep going like this, my estate will prosper again sooner or later."

"After listening to you, I feel that Japanese tea art can no longer help me relieve stress. Thank you, Tommy. It's nothing. Can you please go back to California?" Wolf looked at the speechless tea artist next to him and said to Tommy.

Tommy flicked the ash off his cigarette using an empty teacup as an ashtray. "You don't need to care about the pressure. Those people don't know what you've gained, but you know it yourself."

"Let's get down to business, Tommy. Don't ruin my understanding of the world. And you, Japanese master, thank you. I'm sorry you won't be able to earn my tips in the future. Don't hate me. Remember to hate Mr. Tommy Hawke sitting across from me." Wolfe imitated Tommy's posture and sat cross-legged. He rubbed his knees and said to the tea artist: "By the way, if I... catch a cold, I will ask the lawyer to file a complaint against you. You can leave now."

After the poor tea artist left, Tommy looked at Wolf Tucker and said with a smile, "Ask a financial reporter you trust to investigate whether KeyBank has any illegal business practices."

"That's not yours...I don't quite understand." Wolf Tucker said with some confusion.

Tommy pointed at the cup of hot tea in front of Wolfe. "If you don't want the tea leaves to sink to the bottom of the cup, you need the boiling water to keep flowing."

First update~
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(End of this chapter)