The car was far away from the Firefly headquarters, and Bill Michanik had not yet recovered from the shock caused by Katzenberg's words. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Over the years, the Firefly Group has not only successively annexed New Line Pictures, Disney Group and ABC Group, becoming Hollywood's largest media giant, but also secretly controlling MGM Pictures and having an intertwined relationship with Twentieth Century Fox.

Bill Michanick thinks that even MGM, which was at the height of Hollywood's golden age, is probably nothing more than that.

If Firefly just wanted to get Columbia Pictures back and kick the Japanese out of Hollywood once and for all, Bill Michanik wouldn't be too surprised.

In his opinion, with the current business situation of Sony Pictures, if there is no fundamental change in the next few years, it is almost inevitable that Sony will withdraw from the film and television industry. At that time, with the strength of the Firefly Group, if this company makes a move, there will be few opponents inside and outside Hollywood who can compete with it.

However, from Katzenberg's statement that the Fireflies intend to suppress the salaries of Hollywood's A-list superstars, Bill Micchanik understands another thing: the Firefly Group wants to be the rule-maker in Hollywood.

But if you want to set the rules, even if you control half of Hollywood's big studios, it's still not enough. It's like having half of a net in one river, and the fish in the river can easily swim over the other side.

To make the rules, Firefly has to hold the whole of Hollywood in its hands.

In order to achieve this goal, after Sony, Firefly will definitely shoot at the other three Hollywood companies.

In Bill Michanick's view, only the return of Columbia Pictures is more realistic, and the other three major film companies, whether it is Universal, Paramount, or Warner, have become part of the large media groups, and these media groups that have gone through difficulties and difficulties to finally integrate basically will not sell their film business.

In other words, if Firefly wants to take down the last three film companies, the only way is probably to swallow their parent companies together.

Bill Michanik knew Katzenberg well, and he didn't think that Katzenberg would have such unrealistic ambitions, after all, in his opinion, even if such a goal could be achieved, it would probably be twenty or thirty years later.

Thirty years, Hollywood, who can have ambitions that can last for thirty years?

Even the old and stalwart media tycoons like Lei Shidong or Murdoch, Viacom and News Corp. have reached a limit to the extent that even if they can live for another thirty years and firmly hold Viacom and News Corp. in their hands, they don't have enough energy to continue to grow and develop their industries.

However, thinking of this, Bill Michanik's mind quickly came to mind the figure of the young man behind the Firefly Group.

So, in the midst of all kinds of mixed tastes, there was suddenly a little more enlightenment.

Eric Williams is only twenty-seven years old this year, but the Firefly Group has grown to its current size.

Then, if you continue, as long as you stick to this ambition, it may not be completely impossible for Fireflies to control the whole of Hollywood.

Before I knew it, the car had arrived at Columbia Pictures headquarters in Culver City.

Hearing the assistant's soft reminder, Bill Michanik finally came back to his senses from his contemplation.

Thinking of Howard Stringer, who was still waiting for the outcome of his negotiations with Katzenberg, Bill Michanik thought about it for a while, but decided not to tell Howard Stringer what the other party said when he met with Katzenberg.

Howard Stringer was bent on becoming the first non-Japanese CEO of Sony Group, but he himself wanted to stay in Hollywood for a long time. Bill Michanick even thought that perhaps, he should have more contact with his colleagues during the Disney period in the future, so that even if the Firefly Group takes back Columbia Pictures, he still has a good chance of fighting to continue to serve as the CEO of Columbia Pictures and continue to be in charge of the company.

This year's Christmas is Thursday, except for Wednesday, which was affected by Christmas Eve, and the single-day box office of "Rush Hour 2" fell to $6.59 million, the other three working days of "Rush Hour 2" have a single-day box office of more than $9 million, and the single-day box office of "Rush Hour 2" even rebounded to $10.75 million on Christmas Day.

In the end, the box office of "Rush Hour 2" reached $100 million 3.52 million in the first week, becoming the only dark horse in the end of 1997 to break 100 million at the box office in the first week.

"Starship Troopers", which followed "Rush Hour 2", only stopped at $29.15 million at the box office in the first week, and the single-day box office on the last working day of the first week fell to the million level.

"Rush Hour 2" broke 100 million in the first week, and the total box office in North America exceeded 200 million is almost a sure thing, and the next "Jurassic Park 3" will inevitably be affected by "Rush Hour 2".

Since it was unavoidable, Eric concentrated on enjoying the warmth of Christmas, and as for the request from Los Angeles that the two male protagonists wanted to add a part of the box office share to the $20 million salary of the third sequel in the contract, Eric did not take it to heart.

After Christmas, "Jurassic Park 3" landed in major theaters in North America on time on December 26.

Now that Christmas is over, Eric is gradually turning his mind to work.

On Saturday morning, because he had asked several Yahoo executives to hold a not-so-formal video conference to discuss Yahoo's development plan for next year, Eric sat in his study early, waiting for the first-day box office report of "Jurassic Park 3" from Los Angeles.

Throughout this year, due to the complete outbreak of the wave of Internet technology, a large number of emerging Internet companies are increasing their efforts to promote online advertising at any cost.

As a result, Yahoo, the portal giant that occupies more than 70% of the North American market, has once again seen a significant increase in performance this year.

Compared with last year's full-year revenue of $194 million, although the last quarter's performance data is still being counted, only in the first three quarters, Yahoo's annual revenue has reached $435 million, and the full-year revenue is likely to be close to $600 million.

However, correspondingly, as Internet users continue to grow explosively in North America and even overseas, Yahoo's operating costs have also skyrocketed. Throughout 1995, Firefly Investment poured $500 million into Yahoo.

According to preliminary statistics, compared with last year, Yahoo's loss this year will also rise to more than $300 million.

Because the meeting was not very formal, on the other side of the video, several Yahoo executives also gathered in the living room of Yahoo CEO Ian Gnier's house.

According to the statistics in November, the number of Internet users in the world has exceeded 100 million, of which North American Internet users account for 70 million. Next year, the number of Internet users in North America alone will exceed 100 million. If you want to maintain Yahoo's rapid expansion in North America and overseas, the company needs at least $1 billion next year, Eric, I have received more than one call these days to test whether Yahoo wants to raise funds externally, this time $1 billion, do you plan to inject it wholly by Firefly Investment?"

According to the agreement, Yahoo has already made a share distribution.

However, through last year's $500 million capital injection, Firefly Investment's stake in Yahoo has also risen again to 85%. According to Yahoo's current valuation of about $15 billion, if all the $1 billion is injected by Firefly Investment next year, Firefly Investment's shareholding in Yahoo will rise to more than 90% again.

"I've said before that we won't introduce external investment until Yahoo goes public, so of course," Eric nodded and said, "Regarding money, you and Chris can just discuss it, this year Nokia, Cisco, LTD and other subsidiaries will bring good profit dividends to Firefly Investment, and it's okay to support Yahoo's expansion, let's discuss Yahoo's next development plan." ”

Eric was about to continue talking, but the door to the study was pushed open.

Eric didn't see anyone at all, straightened up, and then noticed that his daughter had run in.

"Daddy, Daddy, this is a cookie that Mommy has just baked, you can taste it," the little guy ran to Eric and handed over half of the cookie in his hand with an innocent face.

Eric looked at his baby daughter deliberately pretending that I was a child and I didn't understand anything, smiled, and still picked up his daughter dotingly and put it on his lap.

Hawaii achieved his goal, casually stuffed the half of the biscuit into his father's mouth, but a pair of beautiful big eyes had already turned curiously to the computer screen, and saw a few faces on the screen, and was immediately a little disappointed.

Eric took down the half of the biscuit stuck in his mouth and put it beside him, feeling that his daughter was about to run away, he hugged it gently, and said, "Xia Xia, be polite, do you remember everyone, say hello." ”

On the other side, Ian Gnier, Steve Mitnick, and Tina Brown all watched with interest what had just happened, they had already met Hawaii at Chris's wedding, and although they hadn't had much contact with it, they were not strangers, and it was only later that they heard from Jeff Bezos that Eric's little girl was very smart.

Looking at the little girl in front of him through the screen with an inexplicable spirituality, Steve Mitnick couldn't help but say, "Hey, Xia Xia, I heard that you are very smart, na, can you give you a math problem?"

Hawaii looked at the few people crowded into the computer screen, tilted his little head, and said, "I got it right, can you walk away from the screen?"

Everyone laughed, and Steve Mitnick asked, "What are you going to do as we walk away?"

Hawaii said, "I'm going to use Yahoo Search to find something." ”

"Xia Xia, you will use Yahoo Search, but do you know why Yahoo Search can find what you are interested in? I created this search engine myself, and if you answered my question correctly, I'll tell you. ”

The little girl's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up and she nodded slightly.

Eric saw Joanna leaning in at the door, trying to take her daughter away, shook his head and said no, before he said to Steve Mitnick, "Steve, I think you'd better have a difficult question." ”

"Really," Steve Mitnick glanced at Eric, who was already a genius, and when he saw Eric nodding his head in confirmation, he said, "Okay, let's try a math problem I did when I was a kid, Xia Xia, it's like this, add it from 1 to 100, you can see if you can figure it out." ”

As soon as Steve Mitnick finished speaking, Tina Brown, who was sitting next to him, protested, "Steve, you are deliberately making things difficult for Xia Xia, she is not yet five years old." ”

Steve Mitnick argued, "But I did it when I was five years old. ”

Saying this, Steve Mitnick was about to give Hawaii a hint, when the little girl's beautiful eyes blinked a few times, but she had already blurted out: "5050." ”

Everyone was stunned, and Steve Mitnick looked at Eric first and said, "You won't teach her this, will you?"

Eric shrugged, and although he himself thought it was a little incredible, he still smiled and said, "No, I don't think her mother will teach her such a boring math problem." ”

"Hey, it's not boring at all," Steve Mitnick retorted, and turned to look at Hawaii, his tone a little more like Uncle Lollipop: "Xiaxia, how did you figure it out?"

The little girl stretched out her thin index finger and scratched it in the air, and said, "That's it, from 1 to 100, you should tell me how Yahoo Search works." ”

A few people didn't think that the little person in front of them would have any need to lie, so they were even more surprised in their hearts.

They all know the formula for summing a series of equal differences from 1 to 100. However, if the little dot in front of you can completely ignore these tricks, just add it from 1 to 100 in just a few seconds, and get accurate results, this is not only a simple mental arithmetic ability, but also requires a strong memory ability and a more powerful mental arithmetic speed.

Steve Mitnick had calculated the math problem when he was about the same age as Hawaii, but it took him a day to write and draw on paper before he discovered some patterns and easily figured out the results. Although he always has a bit of cynicism in his personality, he is actually very proud in his heart. But now, the little girl in front of him may be a little more genius than him.

Somewhat unwilling, Steve Mitnick picked up the paper and pen on the desktop and quickly wrote and drew a few times in the notebook, made a simple nine-square grid and put it in front of the camera, and said: "Na, Xia Xia, let's do another math problem, this time it's more difficult, you see, here are nine numbers from 1 to 9, you try to fill in these nine numbers into these grids, so that any three straight numbers in the grid add up to the same." ”

This time, Tina Brown and Ian Gnier didn't say anything, just looked at it curiously, and Eric thought about it and didn't give his daughter any hints.

Hawaii was visibly intrigued, but he didn't bother with Steve Mitnick's words, staring at the numbers on the notebook across the screen with big eyes and looking curiously, his little brain obviously buzzing. (To be continued.) )