After the "four-point plan" was unveiled at the board meeting, Steve Keys and Carl Icahn did not immediately announce the "sensational" plan.

Instead, he first threw out the plan of spinning off and selling its subsidiaries, which is more acceptable to shareholders than a radical spin-off group, and the first bait thrown by Steve Keys and others is the "sunset industry" of Warner Records.

Historically, the rise of the iPod was not until 05-07 years after iTunes was compatible with PCs, and it was reflected in the record industry, and around 07 years, the download list of Mp3 music officially became the mainstream evaluation standard recognized by the market.

Although it is still too early to talk about digital music and download charts, the iPod's shipments in less than a year have already sounded the alarm bell for the entire record industry.

One of the most important signals is that with the crazy sales of iPods, the overall sales of physical CD albums have begun to fluctuate, and this is not a partial decline, but an overall decline.

For a while, disputes and rumors about the decline of the record industry were also full of various media, if the illegal download of pirated websites was only a disease of the record industry, then the impact of the new generation of listening to the iPod is definitely a fatal blow.

Therefore, when AOL Time Warner released the news of spin-off and sale of Warner Records, the first thing people and the media thought of was not that Time Warner was going to break up and break up, but that they wanted the gecko to break off its tail to survive.

Moreover, the capital market has also given a positive response to it in a short period of time, and the originally depressed stock price of AOL Time Warner has rebounded by $5 in a short period of time to more than $15.

And other major record companies and large and small capitals in the music industry are also ready to move immediately.

When there are different opinions outside, Steve Keys is once again refreshed his lower limit by Carl Icahn's "shamelessness".

"You mean open bidding?" Steve Keys looked at Carl Icahn suspiciously, according to their original verbal agreement with the Fire Lion, Warner Records should have made an internal transaction directly with the Fire Lion.

But now, Carl Icahn has said that he will bid publicly.

"Yes, why sell it directly to the Fire Lion?" asked Carl Icahn without replying.

Steve Case asked, "What do you mean?"

"Wouldn't it be better for us to have a public auction?" laughed Carl Icahn.

Steve Case's face was cloudy: "Icahn, are you sure?"

"Why, are you scared of Sid's little fellow?" asked Carl Icahn rhetorically.

Seeing his attitude, Steve Keys is not a person who is afraid of things, although he was frightened by the unprecedented loss of AOL Time Warner, but now that he has settled down, as the chairman of the giant AOL Time Warner, of course he cannot be afraid of Sid.

Steve Case then nodded, "Okay, then do it." I had a public tender to sell Warner Records to the outside world. ”

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So they broke the contract. When Sid learned about AOL Time Warner's open bid, he didn't go crazy, but calmly asked rhetorically.

"Yes, as we expected, Carl Icahn and Keith are not fuel-efficient lamps. Shirley Sandberg nodded.

"Alright then, let's get in touch with the next family, after all, it's never a good idea to fight alone. Sid smiled faintly.

"Okay, I got it. Shirley nodded.

The first half of 2002 was a rather chaotic year, as Warner Records, one of the world's top five records, was suddenly spun off by its parent company, AOL Time Warner, causing quite a stir in the record industry.

Although AOL Time Warner has been bearish from the capital market to the entertainment industry after April's annual earnings report, no one expected that they would respond so quickly and so aggressively.

However, the short-term rebound of the capital market still makes people see some shadows of hope, and there are not a few other companies and capitals that are scrambling to be the pick-up, so for a while, this drama has also attracted a lot of attention.

But too many participants, for some players who are weak-hearted, is not good news.

At present, BMG and Sony are in contact with Warner, and Edgar Brownman Jr., the former boss of Universal Group, has also gathered a number of private equity funds to actively negotiate with Warner, and even David Geffen and others from DreamWorks are also actively waiting. ”

In an office building in the heart of London's Chelsea borough, a group of distraught managers are holding an internal meeting, the only EMI EMI in the UK among the Big Five.

As the only British bloodline among the five major records, EMI has nothing else to praise other than its ancient origins.

Because just like MGM in Hollywood, EMI is the only independent music company among the Big Five that doesn't have a media group on the list.

Don't look at the "independent XX" company sounds very imposing, but in fact, only they know the bitter ratio.

Unlike Sony and BMG, which have a larger parent company as a backer, EMI has to take care of everything, and for the singers under its control, the record company that manages everything and covers everything is simply the embodiment of the devil.

But for an independent record label like EMI, although it is one of the largest record labels, it is really difficult for him to face the impact of the physical record industry.

"But no matter what, we're only getting $1 billion out of it now, not to mention getting to Warner Records, but I'm really not confident that we can get them. ”

In the end, the person in charge of liaison and negotiation spread his hands and said helplessly.

For the bidding of large companies, it seems complicated to outsiders, but for the parties, it is actually simple and clear.

Multiple bids, the highest bidder wins.

It's not even more technically difficult than casino gambling.

In the face of the crowd that is eyeing Warner, EMI's strength is really too weak, and they can only raise $1 billion through various bank loans, mortgage bonds, etc.

It's okay to do anything else with this money, but it's definitely not enough to snatch this piece of fat from the many Warner Records bidders.

"But if we don't take advantage of this opportunity, we're only going to have a harder time in the future. The current CEO of EMI spoke up to the crowd, and the others nodded in agreement.

Although EMI Records' management knew that the company's situation had no other way but to integrate, the coldness of reality made it difficult for them to cope with it.

At that moment, an assistant knocked on the door of the conference room: "Guys, I have a call from the United States, I think you should listen to it." ”