Chapter Ninety-Four: Recruiting Talents

……

"Boss, this is the contract you just signed with Time Warner!"

Guo Shouyun took it and looked at several key data and signature places, and then returned it to Buddy Morris.

The key elements of the contract had been discussed with Richard Parsons long before. Buddy was just signing on his behalf.

"Lock the contract in the safe!"

Nodding, Buddy Morris respectfully took it. He really didn't expect that Matrix Pictures had only been established for less than a year, and he already had the opportunity to cooperate fairly with Time Warner. And as soon as it came up, there were three blockbusters with an investment of more than 100 million.

"That's right, boss. The total investment in the three films "Harry Potter", "National Treasure" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" is as high as $360 million. According to the contract, we have to contribute half of the funds. Can the company's revenue alone survive?"

"Don't worry, the shooting period for the three films is two years, so we have plenty of buffer time! And, don't forget, we still have a few movies to come. ”

Guo Shouyun is full of confidence, and no one knows the box office of "Chainsaw", "Legally Blonde" and "Fast and Furious" better than him. The only thing that worries him is Ang Lee, the brain circuit of middle-aged people in literature and art is always different from ordinary people.

However, the quality of a "Fifty Shades of Grey" has nothing to do with the overall situation.

Buddy Morris nodded. Looking at the original Morris, the current Matrix Pictures is becoming more and more brilliant under the leadership of Guo Shouyun, and he has some blind trust in this young boss who is one round younger than himself.

"How's things going in theaters now?"

"Five have been negotiated, three in Los Angeles and two in Sacramento. According to the boss's instructions, the 8 theaters are all located in the core area of the city, adjacent to shopping malls, supermarkets and other densely populated areas, with a business area of 3000~4000 square meters, 12~15 halls, each theater includes a MAX hall, and has an independent restaurant. The property is self-sustaining, at present, it is mainly a 20% down payment plus a 30-year loan, the annual interest is 6.12%, and the decoration cost of each theater is 800~12 million US dollars. ”

"In this way, the average cost of decoration and property purchase is about 10 million US dollars, and our 120 million yuan is almost enough to open 12 theaters!"

Buddy Morris nodded.

"You can't become fat in one bite, and twelve is not a lot!"

Although the matter of digging the corner of Warner was solved as he wished, Guo Shouyun did not forget that strong sense of threat. Moreover, the place where he is most afraid of Time Warner is the theater chain. Once the other party uses its strong industry influence to block the release of Matrix Pictures' films, although not all theaters may sell face, as long as half of them are used, it will definitely have a significant impact on the box office of the film.

Matrix Pictures is Guo Shouyun's favorite golden chicken, when the Internet is still at a low ebb, and Phoenix's layout of Enron is still uncertain, Matrix Pictures is the most important capital pool in addition to Thorn Bird Copyright Company. Therefore, even if he knew that the cinema chain was an extremely expensive heavy investment project, he did not hesitate to invest the $120 million he had lent out with great difficulty.

Only in this way, when he faces Warner again, he will have more confidence to deal with them.

"By the way, the company has received emails from Lionsgate, Miramax and other film companies, and they want to visit the boss!"

"Say no! Just say I'm not in Los Angeles!" After a little consideration, Guo Shouyun refused.

These studios came to him for nothing more than the rights to the best-selling books in his hands. Since "Smart: Ghost Record" became popular, he has received a lot of this kind of email. However, it is a pity that the small and medium-cost film matrix pictures will shoot it itself, and the fertilizer water will not flow into the fields of outsiders.

As for "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure", which are currently not capable of shooting blockbusters of more than 100 million yuan, he will only find six major Hollywood cooperation.

……

In October 2000, Hollywood was wonderful, and here Matrix Pictures pried the corner of Time Warner, and the result was a big surprise, the two soon announced that they would jointly invest $360 million to shoot "Pirates of the Caribbean", "National Treasure" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" three billion-dollar productions within two years. All of a sudden, the kicked out of Heiman Pictures became the object of sympathy and ridicule.

However, Heyman was sympathetic for a short time, and Hollywood's attention was drawn to the divorce case of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Hollywood's most talked-about couple. Back then, the union of Qiantang and the great beauty Nicole was called the 'dream couple' by good deeds! Now that the dream is shattered, not only the fans of the two, but the whole of Hollywood feel very hurt. However, with the promotion of the lace tabloids, and the fact that the two have never had children, the rumors that Qiantang is Gay have become very popular again.

But at this time, Guo Shouyun had left the rumored Los Angeles and returned to the relatively quiet San Francisco.

Now he lives in a rented house of less than 150 square meters next to LinkedIn, but in the town of Atherton, one of the most famous wealthy areas in Silicon Valley. After paying a 20% down payment, I bought this $15 million, covering an area of about 26,000 square meters, with 12 rooms, 2 swimming pools, tennis courts, guardhouses and other rich facilities in the colonial style luxury mountain villa.

Although Guo Shouyun is not too rich now, the housing prices in the United States are too low because of the economic crisis, and they will rise sharply in a few years. Of course, Guo Shouyun didn't plan to buy such a big one at first, but after seeing the information of several neighbors around him, he quickly chose to pay for it.

……

Looking at the familiar face in the newspaper, Guo Shouyun couldn't help but think of that beautiful ~ beautiful night, but he also knew that it was just a beautiful misunderstanding between himself and Nicole Kei~ Deman, so after a short memory, he took the initiative to put it in his mind.

"Boss, Mr. Schmidt has arrived!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, put down the newspaper in his hand and stood up.

"Let him in!"

After a short time, a slightly chubby middle-aged man in a black suit and gold-rimmed glasses walked in under the guidance of Wendy Solow.

"Welcome, Mr. Schmidt!"

Looking at the smiling, handsome-looking young man who was holding out his right hand to him, Eric Schmidt quickly stretched out his right hand.

Today, in the circle of Silicon Valley, Guo Shouyun, who is also the chairman of Google and LinkedIn, is an out-and-out rising star. And in addition to that, the other party has the title of America's best young writer on his head.

"Mr. Guo, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

After a brief handshake, Guo Shouyun invited Eric Schmidt to the manor's reception room. A brief look at one of the iron triangles that led Google to glory in later generations.

"What do Mr. Schmidt drink?"

"Just coffee!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, and without him saying anything, Wendy quickly instructed the maid to bring a cup of tea and a cup of coffee.

"Please!"

"Thank you!"

With a polite word, the two of them each took a sip from their cups.

"How?"

"The taste of the Jamaican Blue Mountains is certainly extraordinary!"

"It seems that Mr. Schmidt is really a Chinese expert, if I change it, in addition to being able to drink this coffee, don't think about the origin and the like!" Guo Shouyun smiled and shook his head.

"Everyone's taste is different, and I think Mr. Guo's taste in tea must be more than what I know about coffee. After glancing at the teacup in front of Guo Shouyun, Eric Schmidt smiled and complimented.

"This is probably the only thing I'm good at drinking!" After pausing and glancing at the middle-aged man across from him with a deep gaze, "Mr. Schmidt, have you considered changing jobs?"

"I don't really understand what Mr. Guo means?" Eric Schmidt's pupils shrank, and his tone was slightly solemn.

"Mr. Schmidt's Nowell Company, which has been experiencing losses since the Nasdaq crisis, lost more than $143 million in the third quarter of this year, and it will only be more in the fourth quarter. Despite its glory in the late 80s and early 90s, the current Nowell has become a twilight and has lost its market dominance due to strategic decisions in the network operating system. Even if the market environment improves in the future, Nowell is no longer a great company. So, I personally think that Mr. Schmidt should be given a new platform where you can fully display your talents!"

"Mr. Guo, you should know that I am here to seek investment?" said Eric Schmidt calmly after a moment of silence.

The investment he is talking about is actually PE, and now Guo Shouyun's Phoenix Investment Management Co., Ltd. has some fame in Google's investment circles because it has important shares in Google, LinkedIn, and Guo's business, plus the acquisition of the CDMA division of the giant accumulation company. Of course, it can't be compared with private equity giants such as Blackstone, Carlyle Funds, Goldman Sachs, and TPG, but now Nowell is losing money every quarter, and even if these predators who eat people and don't spit out bones, even if they are interested, the conditions will be unaffordable for them. Therefore, small and medium-sized PEs such as Phoenix, which has just risen, have become the most realistic choice for Nowell now.

"I know. But now that Silicon Valley is bankrupt with dozens of tech companies every day, the only thing Nowell is better than them is that it once had a glorious history, but it was the least valuable. And frankly, I don't have any interest in this company at all except you!" Guo Shouyun said bluntly without hesitation.

In fact, for Nowell, Guo Shouyun also knows how to get it out of the quagmire of bankruptcy, as long as he gives up Netare, which has no future, and shifts the focus of research and development to Linux, with the foundation laid by Nowell in the past ten years, it is not difficult to make a difference in Linux. But to complete this task, Guo Shouyun and Nowell need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a lot of time.

Comparatively speaking, he prefers to spend his efforts on companies such as Apple and Amazon rather than Nowell. Under the same conditions, the benefits brought by the former exceed those of the latter.