Although Alan Larsen has served as deputy secretary of state, he does not have the hypocrisy of politicians, and the whole person seems very straightforward. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After greeting Zhang Ran, he said directly: "Netflix's lobbyist is James Langton, a close friend of President Bush, who once raised funds for President Bush's re-election campaign and served as chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Council, so he is a difficult opponent." But our biggest threat isn't him, it's the report submitted by Rep. Jim Colebethson, which contains the idea that online video is an extension of cable television and could be used for political propaganda. Since the government does not allow foreigners to form television networks in the United States, it should also prohibit foreigners from operating online videos."

Before coming to the United States, Zhang Ran felt strange that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States generally only reviews projects involving national security, how could it review the acquisition of Netflix, but now he completely understands: "Hastings, this report must have been made by him!"

"It's not who brings it up, it's how to solve it," Larsen said. ”

Zhang Ran thought deeply: "You're right, then what should we do now?"

"The main thing is communication, providing information to members of Congress and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the country, emphasizing that the acquisition of Century Summit is a commercial act and has no political intent," Larsen said. I suggest you do an interview with the Washington Times, do you know about this newspaper?"

Zhang Ran shook his head, he only knew the Washington Post.

Larsen said: "The Washington Times is more anti-China, especially fond of advocating****** although it is only sold in the Washington area, and the sales volume is very small, but it has a great influence in American political circles, and is regarded by the outside world as a frigate of the US government, and even a political weather vane for the CIA and the Pentagon." If you can make a positive voice through the Washington Times, it will work well. However, this newspaper is anti-China, and when interviewed by them, they will inevitably be asked a lot of tricky and even sharp questions, which will be a great challenge. ”

After saying that, Larsen looked at Zhang Ran and wondered if he was willing to accept this challenge.

Zhang Ran shrugged his shoulders and said disappreciatively: "No problem, I will go directly to the newspaper office of the "Washington Times" on Monday and accept their questioning in person!"

Larsen was taken aback: "You're going straight to the newspaper, and you're going to face a bunch of hostile reporters, that's terrible!"

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "Maybe it's scary, but it's easier to gain their trust this way, right?"

Larsen nodded, being able to show this kind of bearing and courage can indeed conquer many people, and said, "Then I wish you success." But media and lobbyists alone are not enough to gain politicians' favor with foreign companies, and the most effective and long-term way is to hire Americans. When the interests of American voters are closely tied to foreign corporations, there is much less political pressure on corporations in Congress. Let's say your company creates 20,000 jobs in California, and if Congress were to point fingers at China, California workers would say to their state legislators: What are you doing? These Chinese give me jobs and wages!"

Zhang Ran said puzzledly: "Summit Entertainment has hundreds of employees in California, but this time the California legislator jumped out against us, what's going on?"

Larsen explained with a smile: "After Netflix acquired Blockbuster, it announced a plan to close 2,000 stores and lay off 20,000 employees in the next two years. If the acquisition of a public company in the United States can have a positive impact on a particular state or region, politicians will say, "The reason why so good companies invest in and buy our factories, create new jobs, and boost the economy is because of me." In this way, they will be able to get re-election. If it can be shown that mergers and acquisitions will not only not take away existing jobs, but also create more jobs, then their attitude towards acquisitions will be completely different. ”

Zhang Ran now completely understands that this time several state legislators are targeting him, mainly on the issue of layoffs. If you promise not to make mass layoffs after the acquisition, then the government department, whether it is the state legislature or Congress, will give the green light.

However, with the development of the Internet, the DVD store business has shrunk very badly, and the second-ranked film library company went bankrupt in July this year, according to the results of market analysis, Blockbuster must close at least two-thirds of its stores to remain competitive, so even if Zhang Ran takes over, it will definitely close stores in a big way.

If it is one or two hundred people, it is nothing for Zhang Ran to raise them in vain, but this is 20,000 people, and the annual salary is hundreds of millions!

Blockbuster's business is to rent DVDs, which is very simple, and if you want to not lay off employees or reduce layoffs, you can only introduce other businesses.

Century Summit is a film and television company, and in addition to DVDs, only derivatives can be put into the store. T-shirts, toys, books and other related products of Century Peak's film and television works can be put into Blockbuster's stores, so that Blockbuster can become a specialty store for DVD rental and derivative sales. Disney has thousands of chain stores around the world, and Blockbuster can also grow in this direction.

However, there are too few films produced at the peak of the century, and in addition to "Time and Space Warriors" and "Twilight", which is in the late stage, there are not too many valuable IPs, and it is very difficult to develop derivatives. If you want to get more valuable IP, then the only way is to acquire.

Among all the companies that can be acquired, the superheroes with the most IPs are undoubtedly Marvel, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and other superhero teams such as the Avengers, the Illuminati, the Fantastic Four, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Winning Marvel not only has a lot of superhero movies to make at Summit Entertainment, Netflix can make various TV series, but Blockbuster also has enough derivatives.

Before that, Zhang Ran did not think about buying Marvel, although he knew that Marvel was a big gold mine, but he also knew very well that a company like Marvel would never be easily sold to Chinese. After all, when Sony bought Colombia, the whole United States was exclaiming, the Japanese bought the soul of the United States, and in the end, Akio Morita relied on Kissinger's help to get his wish.

Marvel is the childhood of countless American children, if Zhang Ran buys Marvel, I am afraid that the whole United States will exclaim that the Chinese have bought the future of Americans, who can Zhang Ran find to help at that time?

But now Zhang Ran feels that he can give it a try, after all, he has tens of thousands of jobs in his hands, and if the government department is stuck, then it will be difficult for BesTV to operate, and it will close stores on a large scale, and tens of thousands of people's jobs will be smashed.

Zhang Ran raised his head with a little excitement and said, "Mr. Larsen, if I make a commitment not to reduce jobs in the next three years, and the treatment of all existing employees will remain the same, what do you think?"

It's not 200 jobs, it's 20,000! Larsen was taken aback: "Are you really willing to make such a promise? You have to understand that once you have made that commitment, you have to report your progress to the committee every 12 months, and the committee will check that you have fulfilled the promise you made at the time of the acquisition, and if you don't, you will face a hefty fine of hundreds of millions of dollars." ”

Zhang Ran nodded affirmatively: "If I stand in the position of Hastings, I have no other choice, and I will definitely lay off employees on a large scale, but the peak of the century is not Netflix, and I am willing to make this promise." ”

Larsen stared at Zhang Ran for several seconds before he said: "If you dare to make this promise, then the government department will no longer be an obstacle to the acquisition, but will vigorously promote this matter, even if he is an anti-China parliamentarian, he will not dare to oppose it easily!"

At ten o'clock on Monday morning, Zhang Ran came to the door of the Washington Times, he looked up at the newspaper sign, took a breath, and walked to the front desk.

"Hello, welcome to The Washington Times!" was a blonde woman in her twenties at the front desk, smiling very brightly.

Zhang Ran looked at her work card, Blanche-Cole, and smiled: "Miss Cole, my name is Zhang Ran, I am the founder of Fly, and the Washington Times has published a lot of reports about me recently, some of which have obvious misunderstandings, I want to meet your editor-in-chief and talk to him!"

Blanche-Cole looked at Zhang Ran in a daze for a few seconds before coming back to her senses, I don't know how many companies and individuals were smeared by the Washington Times, and it was the first time she had seen her who took the initiative to come to the door, so she quickly picked up the phone, dialed it, and said, "Mr. Sanders, Mr. Zhang Ran, the founder of Fly, wants to meet you and talk to you." Yes, he is at the forefront. Well, okay!" she smiled at Zhang Ran, stood up, and said, "Mr. Zhang, please follow me." ”

She made a gesture of please, turned around and led the way in front, Zhang Ran followed closely behind.

Blanche-Cole took Zhang Ran to a conference room, opened the door, and said to Zhang Ran with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, this is the green room where the Washington Times receives important interview subjects, please wait a moment, Mr. Sanders, they will come over soon." With that, she turned around and went back to the front desk.

Zhang Ran was not polite, came to the opposite side of the long table, pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting for the next storm.

After about five minutes, the door of the green room was pushed open, and seven or eight men walked in. At the front was a middle-aged white man in his forties, wearing black-rimmed glasses, a blue suit and a red tie. When he saw Zhang Ran, he walked over with a smile, stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Zhang, I'm David Sanders, editor-in-chief of The Washington Times, and I'm glad to see you!"

Zhang Ranhe shook hands with Sanders: "Hello, Mr. Sanders!"

Sanders briefly introduced Zhang Ran to several other reporters, all of whom were reporters for The Washington Times. Sanders had been paying attention to Zhang Ran's reaction, and he found that Zhang Ran couldn't see the slightest nervousness on his face, but kept smiling, a little surprised: "You dare to come here, it's really unexpected." Many heads of state walked into the green house with beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down. ”

Zhang Ran said lightly: "There is a saying in our China, I don't do bad things in my life, and I am not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night, what am I afraid of? I am here to tell American readers what the real Zhang Ran is like." ”

Sanders stared at Zhang Ran for a few seconds, took out a tape recorder, put it in front of Zhang Ran, looked at Zhang Ran and said, "Mr. Zhang, from now on, every word you say may appear in the newspaper." ”

Zhang Ran shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course, can you start?"

Sanders smiled slightly, took out a report, put it in front of Zhang Ran and said, "Mr. Zhang, this is a report submitted by Rep. Jim Culbeson, how do you explain this report?"

Zhang Ran didn't answer, but asked, "Mr. Sanders, can I ask you a question?"

Sanders said: "Absolutely. ”

Zhang Ran said in a flurry of words: "Excuse me, how many times has Mr. Coulbesen been to China? Excuse me, has Mr. Coulbessen been to the peak of the century to inspect me?"

Sanders was stunned: "I don't know." ”

Zhang Ran raised his eyebrows, raised his voice and said, "I can tell you, not once." He hadn't been to China, he hadn't been to the peak of the century, he hadn't seen me. The whole report has not been investigated, it is a conjecture, is such a report valuable?"