"In 94, a series of outstanding films emerged, which was the most solemn award 'big year' in the past 20 years, including "Forrest Gump", "The Lion King", "Vulgar", "Burning Years", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Behind the Scenes", "Nier's Heart" and a series of memorable films. ”

"Thankfully, in the past 2002, we saw this kind of film popping up again. There are not only commercial blockbusters such as "Star Wars Prequel 2", "Spider-Man 2", "Omen", "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", but also many excellent art films. This year's awards season will be surging from all directions, and the world will be eye-catching, fierce and proud!"

"Take a look at the best of the past year, "New York Vice," "All the Time," "About Schmidt," "Adapted Screenplays," "Chicago," "The Pianist," "Far from Heaven," and ...... And the majestic Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers! There is no doubt that this year's awards season will be very competitive and full of suspense......"

Tang En looked at the "Entertainment Weekly" in his hand and shook his head amusedly.

This year's awards season is truly unprecedented.

But is there really a suspense?

He was deeply unimpressed.

New Universal's four films, "New York Vice", "Chicago", "The Pianist" and "All the Time", can sweep away all the ghosts and snakes!

Every film qualifies for the Grand Prize!

For now, Don is more concerned about MGM!

MGM shares are now $13.02 and have a market capitalization of $3 billion.

However, it is obviously impossible to buy MGM for $3 billion.

Gambling tycoon Kirk Corkerey is reassuring and ruthless, and at the age of 85, he can still play financial leverage with ease.

The current MGM, although it has been in deficit for many years and has poor performance, has no debt pressure, because Cork Corkerian has maintained the stability of the stock price with a large amount of money every year.

Since his third acquisition of MGM in 1996 for $1.3 billion, he has invested another $1.7 billion in the past six years.

In other words, after Cork Cockrian bought MGM for the third time, he has invested a full $3 billion!

With the greedy nature of Cork Corkerian, it is categorically impossible to sell it at a "low price" of $3 billion.

Otherwise, in the past six or seven years, he has not worked in vain?

Such a huge amount of money, even if it is deposited in the bank, the interest will be 4-500 million US dollars over the years.

In the way of a businessman, from Cork Cockrian's point of view, he was right, and the value of MGM was visible to everyone anyway, and there were so many companies rushing to make an offer, he just had to delay.

Now is the golden age of video discs, and a massive film library is the guarantee of maximizing the value of video discs.

MGM has a library of nearly 4,200 movies and 10,600 TV series, as well as the crown jewel "007" series, as well as the "Rocky" and "Hannibal" series.

These are the biggest confidence of Cork Corkerian!

The industry has long been spreading.

In the past, the traditional DVDs, clarity and resolution can no longer satisfy the appetite of movie fans, and the latest playback devices also need to support higher definition pictures, not only DVD players, but also Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox game consoles.

In this case, Microsoft and Toshiba will cooperate to launch the HD-DVD high-definition format standard, and Sony will single-handedly launch the BD Blu-ray high-definition format standard.

The competition for this "standard" is very fierce, although HD-DVD has not yet been officially launched, and the research and development of Blu-ray has even just started, but the two sides have already launched a market competition.

The main direction, of course, is the movie!

The DVD production medium of Hollywood movies is the core of promoting the "standard" of high definition!

Because, Sony's enthusiasm for MGM is extremely high, and Microsoft, a technology company, is also organizing a team to inspect MGM and want to take it into the bag.

Such news is very bad for Donn.

The more competition there is, the more it will cost to acquire MGM.

"Bell bell bell ......"

The office phone rang, and when Donn answered, it was Michael Ovitz.

"Don, Lei Shidong has made a move!"

Tang En raised his eyebrows, "What move?"

"I also just got the news that Lei Shidong came forward and contacted Merrill Lynch Securities, and established Melrose Private Equity Fund in the name of Merrill Lynch Bank and Paramount. "Michael Ovitz is a little heavy.

Don also understood, and his eyes widened, "You mean...... Platter investment?"

Michael Ovitz said, "That's right!

Tang En sneered, "This old guy is not dead yet." Do you really think that Platter investment can save Paramount? This Melrose Foundation is even more ridiculous, cooperating with Hollywood film companies, without insiders involved in the operation of the project, there will be no bones left to be eaten sooner or later! In this respect, Paramount is notorious. ”

Michael Ovitz shook his head, "The Melrose Foundation is a small matter, but it's probably a start. Wall Street's private equity and venture capital banks have recently paid close attention to Legendary Pictures' financial statements. I think...... In addition to the Melrose Fund, more platter investment funds will enter Hollywood, and even ...... It is likely to imitate the management model of Legendary Pictures!"

Don pondered for a moment and nodded, "Well, Michael, the plan to go public must be started immediately!"

"Well, I've talked to the investors and gotten their consent. If possible, in August of this year...... Or in September, Legendary Pictures can go public. ”

"Okay, then I'll wait for good news!"

Hanging up the phone, Don sat for a moment, then smiled coldly.

This Lei Shidong is still trying to die and struggle?

……

The nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced, and New Universal's "Chicago", "All the Time", "New York Vice", and "The Pianist", four award-winning films, unsurprisingly became the biggest favorites, with a total of 22 nominations.

On this day, Barry Diller sent back the good news: "Kevin Turner said yes!"

Donn was so excited that he wanted to fly to Bentonville right away.

Barry Diller said, "He's in Los Angeles at this time!"

……

At the country club in Beverly Hills, Donn meets Kevin Turner again, along with Barry Diller and Reed Hastings.

In this meeting, Kevin Turner did not have the rejection of people thousands of miles away in the past.

After a few months of contact, he felt the sincerity of New Globe.

"Actually, the most important thing that made me want to join New Global was the latest acquisition. He said.

A few big men swim shirtless, and they don't even have a beautiful woman to accompany them, which is not like a business negotiation in the entertainment industry at all. Fortunately, Kevin Turner is a tech talent, and he thinks it's normal.

"Acquisition?" Donn's eyes lit up, "You mean the IMDB website?"

Kevin Turner said, "That's right, that's the site." I was certainly not interested in this site, but was shocked by the combination of IMDB and Netflix. ”

"Oh?

Everyone in the room was interested in what he had to say.

Especially Reed Hastings.

As the founder and head of Netflix, he would like to hear more "high opinions". Don let imdb and Netflix combine, which already made his eyes shine.

Kevin Turner laughs, "I'm thinking about Walmart with the mindset of Walmart. When it comes to sales operations, Wal-Mart has no rivals. E-commerce is booming, and to be honest, it will only make Walmart stronger and stronger. Netflix, though, made my eyes shine. This is actually e-commerce, but it is not e-commerce in the traditional sense, and this movie-based membership sales model is commendable. ”

"During this time, I have been following the entertainment news, and through Mr. Diller, I have been able to get some first-hand information about New Universal and Viacom. In my opinion, the future of the rental market must belong to Netflix......! The traditional record industry is gradually declining, how long can Peskind last?"

"I also read Netflix, the business model is very advanced, and with IMDB's information consultation, the stickiness and attractiveness to users will be greatly increased. However, there are some minor problems, such as the video-on-demand business, which is useless, video downloads, which will nourish the birth of piracy, and the video mailing business, which is too costly, with a single postage of 30 cents and a round trip of 60 cents, which is a huge expense. ”

Don was a little speechless.

Unexpectedly, what attracted Kevin Turner from New Universal was not the outstanding film and television business, but Netflix......

But that's okay, he was in charge of the "online-offline" docking business at Walmart, and he came to New Globe to be in charge of this part.

Reid Hastings shook his head and said: "The most ideal mode of film dissemination is to directly push the pictures and sounds of movies and TV series to the audience in the form of data streams through the Internet, and as long as the device can display it, it can be received and played. However, at present, the network carrier is not able to quickly complete the transmission of huge amounts of information in a short time. ”

The current network speed still belongs to the "narrow band" era.

It takes a full 3 hours to download a movie in DVD quality that is less than 16 hours long!

And the cost of this 16 hours of internet ...... is up to $10.

You know, the monthly membership fee for Netflix is only $20.

In this case, Netflix's video-on-demand and video download businesses naturally seem to be very chicken.

This is not a problem with Netflix, but with the network operator.

Kevin Turner said, "No!

"Unless you can break the bottleneck of network bandwidth. ”

"That's something that operators should be thinking about. ”

"Oh?" Reed Hastings raised an eyebrow.

Kevin Turner also knows that after he joins New Globe, he will be the vice president of the group, the chairman and CEO of the interactive entertainment division, and the immediate boss of Reed Hastings.

At this time, it is necessary to show off a little knowledge and show that you are worthy of the name of "leadership".

"I haven't gotten Netflix's specific financial statements yet, but I know that Netflix's expenses, in addition to the necessary copyright fees, are the biggest expenses are the shipping costs of the discs!"

Reed Hastings nodded.

In the past year, Netflix's revenue exceeded $600 million, of which $150 million was spent on shipping, accounting for a full 25%!

That's a huge expense.

However, it is impossible to charge the monthly membership users for shipping, right?Real lady online service, help you find books to chat with you, please micro / letter / search / search hot network article or rd444 waiting for you to tease~

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