Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1589 I Want to See the Account Book

Ronald was not interested in chatting with him any more, and turned around to chat with his main partners who came to Sun Valley this time, investor Warren Buffett, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. They participated in a small bridge game and were exchanging views on the battle situation.

"This is a great tactic..."

"But you lost your partner."

"Hahaha……"

Several people walked away laughing.

But Ovitz, who was left out, only heard the first two sentences of the conversation, and his face turned green and red. Were they saying this to mock him? Were they laughing at him? Or were they praising him?
"Wait a minute, Bill, Ronald, I don't understand why you played well but lost your partner."

"Because I only had six points and I called four diamonds, my partner was furious when he showed his hand. He said he could have scored by defending."

Ronald shrugged. He had played many doubles games, and was not used to the kind of disc bridge with a bit of gamble here in Sun Valley. This call left his partner speechless, and he refused to continue playing with him.

“By the way, tell me why you think Disney’s future is unsustainable and their moat is not solid.”

Buffy was still most interested in investment, so he turned to ask Ronald about Disney's acquisition of ABC. His company held a lot of ABC shares, and if the future was not good after the acquisition, he would consider selling it. At this time, it would be a good reference for a young talent in the industry to talk about his views.

"I heard that the acquisition will have a high premium, and I am not optimistic about Disney's management..."

What Ronald said is actually very simple. Disney is popular in the capital market because their cartoons do not have high pay for actors, and they can use the IP of animated characters to earn other income, which is equivalent to doubling the income of other studios' live-action movies. This is a moat that other Hollywood studios do not have.

But this special moat must have a premise, that is, their movies are popular. Because the production cycle and cost of animation are also very high, once there is a problem, if an animation does not get the expected box office, then the subsequent peripheral products will not sell well.

For the same reason, a failed animated film would do twice as much damage to Disney as the failure of an ordinary commercial film would to other studios.

In Ronald's opinion, the reasons for the success of a successful cartoon and a successful live-action movie are the same: a visionary producer, a wonderful script, a capable director, and casting that fits the story itself.

To have all these elements, the key is that the studio must have a person in charge who understands the principles of filming. Disney originally had a super producer who understood these, Katzenberg.

During his time as Disney's production manager, both animated and live-action films achieved box office results far above the industry average, with an impressive return on investment. Ronald even suspected that Eisner's previous success at Paramount was likely due to Katzenberg's help in managing the production business.

A memo written by Katzenberg during his time at Disney detailed how he judged the prospects of film projects and how he managed them. This memo was considered by some knowledgeable people to be a model for Hollywood success. Ronald also promoted this memo within Daydream.

But Katzenberg can do it, but it does not mean that others can do it. Whether it is Paramount, Disney, or DreamWorks, he has Eisner's protection, so he can focus on business and art, regardless of the various political struggles between stars and executives.

Therefore, the bankers on Wall Street generally believed that this was Katzenberg's own ability, rather than knowledge that could be transplanted to other studios, and did not pay special attention to it.

Now that the golden partnership has been torn apart by Eisner's jealousy and defensiveness, it becomes a big question whether he can find an honest man like Katzenberg who is capable and unlikely to sacrifice the interests of the company for his own benefit to help him manage the film business.

As for the idea that after ABC and Disney merge, they can share resources and get extra help, making one plus one greater than two, to be honest, Ronald doesn't agree.

This kind of resource sharing requires a strong and knowledgeable boss to guide it. If the boss himself is a layman, he will not be able to stop his subordinates from ignoring the overall interests for the sake of their own department's interests.

At that time, it will not be resource sharing, but people will blame each other and take profits into their own bowls. One plus one will be less than two, or even less than zero, becoming a negative number...

"Hmm..." Buffy nodded. His investment philosophy was to be a strategic investor only. If there was a good management team, he would not interfere in the operation of the company, because he was unlikely to do better than the original professional team.

It was a pity that the Disney team he had been optimistic about was disbanded. Buffy lacked confidence in how competitive the new Disney could remain. If not, he would just wait for a high point in the stock price and then run away...

"Are you going to sell?" Ronald took the opportunity to come over and test the waters. After all, he was the second richest man in the United States, so his views on stocks must be accurate.

"I can't say for sure, but it's very likely. You may not know that before a merger or acquisition, all senior executives of a company have to undergo a physical examination. Eisner found out..."

Buffy whispered to Ronald that Eisner had found severe coronary artery blockage during this routine physical examination, and the doctor said he had to undergo a heart bypass surgery as soon as possible. Anyway, Ronald was also a shareholder of Disney, and he would know it soon even if Buffy didn't tell him.

"Hmph..." Ronald thought to himself, this is indeed a variable, but with the advancement of medicine today, a small bypass surgery won't have too much impact on Eisner, right?

"You're talking about operating in the film industry. How can you be successful in the TV business?"

I just finished chatting with the second richest man in the United States, and the richest man, Gates, also asked Ronald a question.

"For TV stations, it's much simpler. If you mean news stations, the most important thing is to have great male talk show hosts. With one you can gain a foothold, and with two you can enter the top competition.

If you mean a TV series channel, then the most important thing is to have a general manager who is capable of managing the films, which is similar to the film industry. The difference is that you don’t have to carefully consider each one like you do for a movie. A successful TV series can sustain for several years…”

"You are an expert indeed..." Gates nodded and thanked Ronald. Microsoft has now focused a lot of resources and energy on the Internet. The Internet browser they launched has also begun to be released on the market for free.

But a big flaw is that there is no content. No matter whether you are using a Microsoft or Netscape browser, there is a hyperlink text there, and you will be redirected to someone else's website if you click on it.

If Microsoft can launch a website that includes news and entertainment that everyone wants to see, then no matter how you look at it, it is all within Microsoft's territory. This is very good for the upcoming advertising business and for gaining more users.

If there is, then a group of users become die-hard fans of Microsoft's website (this kind of website is now called a portal website, just like a door when surfing the Internet), then Microsoft's browser can do something. Only users who use Microsoft browsers can see the best results when browsing Microsoft's portal website, while those who use Netscape cannot.

At that time, relying on the huge resources behind Microsoft, it can launch a frontal attack and use its resources to squeeze out Netscape in this war that determines the future of Microsoft.

"Why, you want to buy a TV station too? Do you want to join us?" Ronald said half-jokingly. He already had many wireless TV channels, but he just lacked the resources of a TV station. Wouldn't it be great to have a rich man like Gates to guide him?
"We're talking about it now, but if you're interested, let my love talk to your people..." Gates shook his head. Microsoft was discussing cooperation with NBC, and NBC's parent company GE would not sell shares to Gates, so Microsoft had no choice but to think about establishing a joint venture with NBC.

The company will enter the cable TV field and compete with Ted Turner's CNN. Microsoft will provide funding and the online news distribution platform, MSN.com, which they have been planning for a long time. NBC will provide people and experience to be responsible for content production.

In this way, NBC got a cable news network for free without spending a penny, and they also demanded that they and Microsoft each hold 50% of the shares of the new TV station.

This kind of share allocation is obviously malicious. When the shares of both sides are equal, no one will be able to make the final decision, and many decisions will be deadlocked.

The solution proposed by NBC is to set up a management committee, with equal numbers of people from Microsoft and NBC. Then the chairmanship of the committee will rotate between the two sides, one month each...

Although they seem equal, the news teams of the newly established cable stations are all from NBC. In the stalemate, it is obvious who they listen to.

Ronald owned many local wireless TV stations, and the local news and weather forecast capabilities of these stations could fill some of the gaps in the newly established cable TV network. There was no need to negotiate cooperation in various places to meet the requirements of the federal government.

If Ronald uses these resources to invest, he will inevitably occupy a very small share, and then this share will become a critical minority. When he has to choose between Microsoft and NBC, he is likely to stand with the weak Microsoft.

No, Gates thought, he had to use interests to bind Ronald's DDH and turn "should" into "must"...

"Are you interested? I heard you have a lot of local TV stations. You can invest your resources in them and we can join in the fun together."

"Is that so? I'm definitely interested. But DDH has restrictions on investing in cable TV stations. If you're willing, I can use other entities under my umbrella to invest, and then use a contract to guarantee cooperation for the next ten years..."

"That's great, let's talk to our lawyers, now tell me about your deck of cards..."

……

Compared to Ronald's fruitful meeting at Sun Valley, Ovitz had a very painful time these days.

Ronald and the two richest people in the United States said something that was either mocking or comforting, which made him feel depressed. In addition, he had lost his new position as CEO of Universal MCA. All the participants went to chat with his former younger brother Ron Mayer and deliberately distanced themselves from him. After two boring days, Ovitz could not stand being ignored and returned to Los Angeles early.

"Psychologist, no, that's a place for weak people. Real men are strong and resilient."

As soon as he came back, Ovitz's wife told him that his condition was very bad and he should see a psychiatrist.

Ovitz has always believed that this is something only weak and sentimental actors would do. If he, as an agent, also goes to see a psychiatrist, how can he maintain a calm and strong image in front of his celebrity clients?

After hanging up the phone, Ovitz buried his head in his arms at his desk. After a long time of adjustment, he raised his head again.

"boom……"

Ovitz was startled when Jay Moloney, the young partner he had intended to bring to Universal, kicked the door open and rushed in…

Jay Moloney was originally the young Turk who admired Ovitz the most in CAA. He always regarded Ovitz as his idol and imitated him in all his actions. Some people were dissatisfied with this behavior and even made sarcastic remarks in the office, saying that Jay Moloney was like Ovitz's illegitimate son.

Such a partner who respects Ovitz so much suddenly rushed into Ovitz's office without any courtesy. What on earth did he want to do?
"I want to see the account book. Bring out CAA's account book. I want to see it!"

Jay Moloney was furious. He had not been in a hurry in this matter. But after Ovitz was kicked out by Universal, his prospect of continuing to work for Ovitz at Universal was cut off. Now he and a few others were the only ones who had not collected the money to buy his share in CAA in the future.

Ovitz was away for the past few days, and the young Turks in the office looked at him like a fool, which made him very uncomfortable. Finally, Jay Moloney had a delusion that it was Ovitz's fault that he had fallen to this point.

CAA was not worth that much money in the first place, and this guy wanted to extort a huge sum of money from these young people before leaving. Now, as long as Ovitz takes out the account book and everyone carefully checks the account, they will definitely find out how much CAA is worth.

By then, the other young partners will be grateful to me for helping them save a lot of money, and I will have enough money to buy shares.

"You...it's you, Jay Moloney..." Ovitz stood up angrily.

He had thought about Richard, or Hu Wen, or even Niceta confronting him head-on, but Jay Moloney, the young man whom he treated like his own son or nephew, actually took the initiative to attack him?

The office door was wide open, and the young Turks outside were looking at him. If he retreated even a little, the group of young male wolves outside would see the weakness of the leader, challenge his authority, and tear him to pieces.

According to CAA's rules, only the owners can see the account books, that is, the accounts left by the five founding partners, and in fact only Ovitz himself and Mayer can see them.

These people seized this opportunity and fed Jay Moloney some kind of nonsense, instigating him to question his own account books.

There is no way to back down, Ovitz made up his mind, and replied coldly:

"You have two seconds to get out through the door or you're going to go out the window headfirst."

Jay Moloney hesitated for a second. He didn't dare to bet whether Ovitz was serious. He retreated and turned around to walk out of the door in shame.

But he still refused to accept it, and when he left, he said, "It's all your fault. You made me feel like I was reliving my parents' divorce. You forced Ron Mayer to leave, and you also caused CAA to start to split..."

Ovitz heard this and closed the door in pain. Even Jay Moloney said so, it seems that CAA really can't stay.

He picked up the phone and called Eisner of Disney, wanting to accept the invitation.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ovitz, Chairman Eisner is not available to answer the phone right now. Yes, we may have to wait a week..."

Who knew that Eisner didn't answer the phone, and Ovitz fell into panic. Did Eisner have other candidates?