America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 66 The MGM Kingdom

"I was supposed to have a wonderful vacation, but now it's all ruined."

In the CEO's office at MGM, Robert Iger, who had resolved the turmoil in ten days, returned to MGM not with joy, but with complaints.

Ernst looked at him with a smile and casually said, "MGM will reimburse all expenses."

Robert Iger came back with a "Are you a dog?" look on his face, and then reimbursed the expenses—isn't that what should be done?

The benefits for American executives are astonishingly good, not because capitalists have had a change of heart, but because it's more cost-effective to do so.

Instead of handing this money over to the government for taxation, it would be better to use it to allow executives to enjoy life and win people's hearts.

Vacation reimbursement is nothing compared to the expenses for airplanes, houses, cars, and even children's education and family expenses, which many large companies will cover.

Even more extreme, executives would pay for women.

Especially in Hollywood and the financial world, the tax breaks for consumption are substantial. As long as you can demonstrate your value and generate large sums of money for shareholders, everything else is not a problem.

"I patted my chest and promised the kids that I would take them to Orlando for a great time."

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"And what happened? One phone call from you turned me into a big, untrustworthy liar."

The family chose Florida as their vacation destination, which boasts some of the most famous beaches in the United States, with soft sand and clear blue waters.

The adjacent Ocean Drive boasts hundreds of themed bars, specialty restaurants, nightclubs, and historic boutiques, offering a vibrant nightlife and making it a popular vacation destination for many European and American celebrities and business elites.

Besides beaches, Orlando, also in Florida, is a famous theme park capital, home to Disney and Universal theme parks, as well as numerous amusement facilities such as SeaWorld and water parks, consistently ranking among the top travel destinations for American teenagers.

"You can tell Tanier to save his first time for MGM Resorts, and I'll make him the premier experience host then."

Egger opened his mouth slightly, looking at Ernst with some shock. "From the moment you proposed to acquire Playboy Corporation through a combination of equity and capital, I knew that your ambitions were not small and that you would definitely not be limited to a simple film company."

"It seems you want to follow Disney's path and develop in all aspects."

"Disney?" Ernst's lips curled into a meaningful smile as he slowly put down his mug, which clinked against the table.

"It took them seventy years and many twists and turns to become the fairytale castle they are today. My goal is to demolish and rebuild it in twenty years."

"I don't want to get complacent just because of the revenue from some movie merchandise and theme parks." Pointing to the mug on the table, he said, "My goal will be achieved when MGM can sell this mug for $100 and still have more demand than supply."

Early film and television merchandise mainly appeared in the form of movie posters, stills, and soundtrack records. These merchandises were primarily used as supplements to promote the film and attract audiences to the cinema, with no one paying attention to their commercial value.

In the 50s, with the development of the film and television industry, some influential film and television works began to try to launch more types of derivative products and explore more commercial possibilities.

Disney has done the best in this regard. Starting in 1955, it launched a variety of derivative products such as toys, stationery, and clothing based on its animated films and Disneyland characters, gradually building a derivative product empire for the Disney brand.

Seeing Disney's profits, other film and television giants have successively developed products closely integrated with the brand image of their films and television works, with a plethora of derivative products such as models, toys, and comics emerging.

The most typical example is Star Wars. Since the release of the first film in 1977, a large number of toys, clothing, models, comics, novels, and other derivative products have been launched, with licensed merchandise revenue exceeding 60 billion euros.

It cost hundreds of millions of dollars, more than the box office revenue.

Because of Star Wars, the market for merchandise has gradually grown in scale, but it has also solidified people's mindset.

Twenty years have passed since Star Wars, yet the market for derivative products has not seen any breakthrough, and no film or television IP has been able to shake the records Star Wars has set in the peripheral market.

Even the giant dinosaurs that wreaked havoc across the globe couldn't compete with the revenue from related merchandise.

Ernst was well aware that the future derivatives market would definitely be diversified, including blind boxes, figurines, various collectibles, fan economy, and so on.

Making a living off film and television IPs? You can forget about getting a piece of that pie.

Of those IPs that have reaped substantial profits from related derivative products, only truly achieved this two thousand years ago, starting from scratch.

Therefore, Ernst's plan for MGM was a platform concept from the beginning, and the model was still the fan economy. However, these fans were not fans of a particular star or character, but of the MGM platform itself.

As he is saying now, when MGM can sell a simple mug for $100 and still be in high demand, the media giant will be completely invincible.

However, this process will be very long and will require a variety of industries to equip MGM. Ernst hopes to complete this goal in twenty years.

When Egger heard Ernst's future plans, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his heart was filled with turmoil. He suddenly realized that the ideas of this American upstart were far more outrageous than he had imagined.

While traditional entertainment giants are still vying for the family-friendly market and related battlegrounds, Ernst has already considered using capital and fame to package ordinary consumer goods as high-end consumer products to fleece consumers.

"This sounds incredible; even Disney wouldn't dare to think of this."

Having worked at Disney for many years, Robert Iger knows that even for Disney, with its reputation and brand influence built up over so many years, its stationery, clothing, and other products are only sold at affordable prices.

Ernst, from a Hollywood giant that had already fallen on hard times, actually had such lofty ambitions.

"So it's Disney, an old order that we were destined to defeat. In my opinion, Disney's positioning has been on the wrong track since the day Walt Disney founded it."

"To give every child a dream paradise? The main consumers have always been adults, not children."

Robert Iger thought of the Playboy Group: "So the Playboy Group is an important part of your MGM empire strategy. You want more than just the influence it can bring, but also the related products and brand influence."

MGM Kingdom? Ernst liked that term.

But if we're talking about the Playboy Group, there is indeed some thought in that regard.

Playboy and MGM may seem unrelated, but Playboy's success can enhance MGM's brand influence, and more importantly, it can prove MGM's ability to create blockbuster hits.

However, Ernst was more interested in the erotic image of sleeping with those angels.

He didn't know whether he should shamelessly admit it at this moment, but in Robert Iger's eyes, these were tantamount to tacit acceptance.

"This first shot won't be easy to fire. How will you break the deadlock?"

Break the situation?

Of course, I'd find a manor and spend every day with those long-legged beauties!