Seeing Allen's expression, Eric realized that the results of the questionnaire were not optimistic, although he had been mentally prepared for this, but after returning to the hotel room, Eric opened the file bag that Allen had given him, and when he saw the statistics, he still frowned tightly.

The questionnaire wasn't written out of thin air, but was based on some forward-looking data from Disney's original project planner. Putting the data aside for a moment, Eric opened his Apple PowerBook laptop again and found the raw data he had extracted from that night, and compared it with the real data in the questionnaire.

Normally, Eric always falls asleep after drinking, but after reading the data comparing the two, Eric is not sleepless, and even the original slight drunkenness is gone.

After wandering around the study for a while, Eric picked up the phone and planned to call Katzenberg, who had returned to Los Angeles, but after thinking about it, Eric put down the microphone again, picked up the stack of materials and walked out of the room, found the fax machine in the hotel manager's office, and transmitted all the materials to Katzenberg's office.

Although it was late at night in Paris, it was only three o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and it was still working time, and with Katzenberg's workaholic personality, even if he was no longer in the office, his assistant would deliver the materials to Katzenberg in the shortest possible time.

After sending all the information to his suite, Eric returned to his suite, sat at his desk and read the findings again, typing into the files on his laptop for a few minutes until just after one o'clock in the morning. I finally couldn't help but plan to rest.

He had just gone to wash up. The phone in the room was already ringing.

Eric picked up the phone.

"Eric. It's me," although the transatlantic call distorted Katzenberg's voice, Eric could hear the solemnity in his tone: "I've seen what you've sent, I'll be in Paris tomorrow." ”

……

In the first week of Disneyland's opening, not only did the number of visitors exceed 100,000 on the first day, but the total number of visitors in the first week also exceeded 500,000, although the management of European Disneyland knew that this was because the park had just opened, but they were still very optimistic that it would be within the next four months of 1992. The total number of visitors to the park exceeded 10 million.

At least, Patrick, who is the CEO of Disneyland Europe. Schneider thinks so, and the French investors involved in the investment in the construction of European Disneyland are also full of confidence in this. After getting through the hectic beginning, Patrick. Schneider has been attending all sorts of parties, commercial and private, lately, enjoying the overt and implicit compliments and hype from investors looking forward to working with Disneyland.

The ballroom of the Hilton Paris Hotel, adjacent to the Champs-Élysées, was once again a reception for guests. Schneider was chatting with a Vivendi executive when his assistant hurried through the crowd to his side, looking anxiously at Patrick. Schneider made a few gestures.

Patrick. Schneider was a little displeased, but noticed his assistant's expression. I still had to say to the middle-aged man in front of me: "I'm sorry, Mr. Melson. I'm probably leaving, but I'll think carefully about Disneyland Europe's partnership with Canal+. ”

A middle-aged man named Melson also noticed Patrick. Assistant Schneider's actions walked away with great interest.

Patrick. Schneider raised his glass slightly to see the other party away, and then turned to the assistant: "Carl, what do you have to say at this time?" ”

"Mr. Schneider, Mr. Katzenberg is here," said the young assistant named Carl in a somewhat urgent tone.

Patrick. Schneider raised an eyebrow: "Mr. Katzenberg, didn't he just return to Los Angeles three days ago?" ”

Carl shook his head, gestured in a panic, and continued: "Mr. Schneider, I don't know the specifics, but I just received a call from Mr. Katzenberg personally, Mr. Katzenberg is already at the Disneyland headquarters, and he also said that you should rush back within an hour and a half, otherwise...... Otherwise, you don't have to go back. ”

Patrick. Schneider opened his mouth in surprise and stared suspiciously into the assistant's gaze, as if trying to make sure if the other party was joking with him again, but after a few seconds, Patrick . . . Schneider rushed out of the banquet hall with his legs drawn, forgetting to put down his goblet.

……

Because of the agreement signed with the French side, European Disneyland was fully handed over to Disney to operate, so almost all the executives above the manager level of European Disney responsible for various departments were Americans, and the French partners could only symbolically get some inconsequential seats.

Patrick. Schneider rushed into the conference room almost at the time given by Katzenberg, and when he saw him enter, all eyes were on him in the already full conference room.

Katzenberg was sitting side by side with Eric at the large conference table and whispered something to Patrick. As Schneider entered, Katzenberg just glanced at him, casually pointed to an empty spot under his head, and then gathered with Eric to continue the conversation.

Although it is only a glimpse, Patrick. Schneider still saw the obvious bags under his eyes behind Katzenberg's glasses.

In addition to the whispers of the two big bosses, the other executives in the conference room were slightly tense and sat quietly in their seats, and Patrick, who felt this atmosphere, felt a sense of unease, and after sitting down in his position, he didn't even dare to reach out to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead, but just threw an inquiring look at the director of operations sitting opposite him, but all he gained was a blank look.

"Alright, we're all here, let's get started," Katzenberg whispered a few more words to Eric before clapping his hands lightly, and after Katzenberg's opening, the administrative secretary who had been sitting nearby handed out the materials that had been prepared a long time ago.

Eric just sat quietly, playing with a pencil in his hand, quietly watching everything around him. Now that he's figured out the problem. Next, leaving it to Katzenberg, who is more adept at running the company, is the best choice. Eric has always been very clear about his own strength. Although he has an innate advantage in making movies. But running a huge film company is beyond his ability, and he doesn't have enough energy to do this, and it is the best choice to leave professional things to professional people.

With the sound of paper turning pages, the atmosphere in the conference room was barely relaxed. The whispers of the crowd rang out. But the whispered conversation lasted less than two minutes, and the room fell silent again as everyone looked through the data in their hands.

Katzenberg glanced at the dozen or so executives in the room, and waited very patiently for more than ten minutes, until he was sure that everyone had finished reading, and then he said, "Okay, now everyone has finished reading what they have in hand." With your expertise, I think you will be able to realize the seriousness of the matter, and if not, then you can leave this room now. The company will pay you two years of salary in full as severance compensation. ”

No one spoke, and certainly no one chose to leave.

As in addition to the two bosses. The highest-ranking person in the room, Patrick. Schneider even had a sense of impending disaster, he sneaked a glance at Eric, who had not spoken, and hurriedly retracted it before the other party's eyes noticed him. Patrick. Schneider knew that the results of the investigation in his hand were completely made under the personal command of Eric, and that Disneyland Europe was part of Disney, and of course it was also an industry owned by Firefly. Schneider, of course, doesn't believe Eric would falsify the data.

But......

Glancing down at the data in front of him again, Patrick. Schneider tried again and felt a faint prostration. One of the most important questions in the questionnaire is, of course, guest satisfaction with Disneyland, which is conventionally divided into five categories: very satisfied, satisfied, average, dissatisfied, and very dissatisfied. In the questionnaire of about 10,000 people, only more than 900 people chose to be very satisfied, while the number of tourists who chose to be very dissatisfied was as high as more than 3,400, and the number of people in the middle three grades was the most dissatisfied and the least satisfied. If converted into a perfect score of 10, the data will be much lower than the passing score of 6.

The guests who were able to visit Disneyland in the first few days of opening were certainly the most favorable and highly anticipated guests of Disneyland, most of whom were probably fans of Disney movies, and the impression of these visitors was so bad that you can imagine how subsequent visitors would feel about Disneyland in Europe.

"23% of the guests chose to be satisfied with the results, 76% of the guests chose not to do a second tour, 90% of the guests said that the park charges are very unreasonable, and there are a lot of very details such as language exchanges, commodity prices and even parking spaces that cannot be ignored in the free feedback of tourists. Without this questionnaire, perhaps we would not have found out in the quarterly summary that there would be such a serious problem at Disneyland Europe. I think at that time, all the tourists who were looking forward to Disneyland in Europe had already left disappointed, and once word of mouth spread, it would be a long and difficult project to turn it around. ”

After Katzenberg finished what he had just said, he was silent for a moment before continuing: "At the same time, I also asked the operations department to make a rough calculation of the per capita consumption of visitors, and the average cost of visitors to the park was about $300, while the actual figure was only $120, which is still obtained when a large number of visitors feel that the tickets are inflated. The occupancy rate of the seven theme hotels is only 37%, far lower than the original forecast of 75%, that is, even if the current situation is maintained, the turnover of European Disney will only be 40% of the projection, if this situation is completely ignored, then it is certain that this new Disneyland will not only not be as profitable as Tokyo Disney, but will bring a loss of more than 1.5 billion US dollars. ”

After Katzenberg finished these words, the management of European Disneyland sitting in his hands was already silent, and everyone could hear the anger that was forced down in Katzenberg's tone, which was an anger that felt deceived, and Katzenberg was indeed very angry, since he took charge of Disney at the beginning of the year, except for the business of Disney's main department. Katzenberg's main focus is undoubtedly the European Disneyland project. In half a year, he also flew to Paris more than once to inspect the preparations for the construction of Disneyland. But for half a year. He didn't find any problems in the information submitted by the management of Disneyland Europe, and judging from the reactions of these people in front of him, Katzenberg knew that it was unlikely that he would deliberately conceal it, and it was more likely that these people ignored many problems because of their blind confidence in the project.

Glancing at Eric beside him, the anger in Katzenberg's heart dissipated a little, and his lips moved. "I also have to take some responsibility for the current situation, but you can't run away, because I have a submission from the local staff of the park in France, which lists a lot of problems raised by tourists in the survey report, which shows that these problems have existed from the beginning, but they have been ignored by you, so as a punishment," Katzenberg said. For all of you here, your salary will be halved for the next four months of the year. Of course, I will personally accompany you to bear this punishment, and if anyone disagrees, my promise is still valid, and you can leave this office now. ”

The executives in the conference room looked at each other, and although many of them sneaked a glance at Eric, no one dared to point out the language in Katzenberg's angry voice, and no one objected to the punishment.

"Well, in that case, let's move on to the next topic and discuss how the current situation should be resolved, Pat, starting with you," Katzenberg unceremoniously pointed at Patrick. Schneider did not mean to save face for the other party at all.

Patrick. Schneider adjusted his mood and said, "I think, first of all, there should be appropriate adjustments to the prices of park tickets and theme hotels......

……

Beginning at ten o'clock in the evening, the long meeting lasted until half past four in the morning of the next day. There was such a serious problem with a large project with a total investment of 5 billion US dollars, and no one present dared to raise objections.

It wasn't until daylight and the administrative secretary in charge of the minutes wrote down a thick stack of minutes that the meeting came to an end.

After Katzenberg finished his final speech, he said to Eric, who had been silent for the rest of the night, "Eric, do you have anything to say?" ”

Eric still held the pencil in his hand, and when he heard Katzenberg's words, he nodded, "I have a picture here for everyone to see." ”

As he spoke, he picked up a roll of paper that had been at his feet, handed it to the administrative secretary behind him, and motioned for the other party to hang it on the clipboard in the conference room.

Everyone looked at the clipboard with intense curiosity.

The magnified giant photo was unfolded by the administrative secretary, and the executives present realized that it was a photo of Mickey Mouse, but the difference was that it was a Mickey Mouse in a kimono.

"Everyone will recognize the costume on this Mickey Mouse, and yes, this is a photo from the Tokyo Disneyland event. A large part of the reason for the success of Tokyo Disneyland is that the management of Tokyo Disneyland has adapted to the local culture of Japan, and in order to attract consumers, they can have Mickey Mouse wear a kimono and hold a bar mitzvah for Japanese youth at Disneyland. Disney culture is certainly the pride of Disney, but you have to remember that Disney is a for-profit commercial company, we do not undertake tasks such as cultural invasion, we should be concerned about whether the company can make profits, this is the ultimate concept that a commercial company should uphold, you may think that I say this too utilitarian, but you can also think about movies, Hollywood movies can expand around the world, The most important thing is that we can give everyone what they see, and the reason why European cinema is declining is that they have been holding on to their stubborn artistic ideas and not changing them, I would say, something that is in decline, whether it is a company or a culture, there is nothing to be proud of. With that said, let's think about it. ”

After a moment of silence, the room erupted in applause, led by some people.

Katzenberg clapped and stared back at the photo of Mickey Mouse in a kimono, and waited for everyone to quiet down before he said to Eric, "Eric, you're so right, is there an original version of this photo, I'm going to put one on my desk." ”

After Eric smiled and nodded, Katzenberg looked at the people present: "I also suggest that you make a copy and put it on your desk, which is a kind of spur." Of course, this is just my personal suggestion, not mandatory, and I hope that everyone can keep in mind the concept that this photo represents. (To be continued......)