Whether or not to fully enter the field of digital music sales is related to the fundamental business strategy of several major record companies. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Eric didn't expect any agreement from the first meeting, so he continued to test each other with Edgar Bronfman and Doug Morrison, agreed on the time of the next meeting, and said goodbye to each other.

After personally escorting Edgar Bronfman and Doug Morrison out of the administration building, Eric returned to his office and picked up the phone to discuss the results of his recent contact with Edgar Bronfman with Firefly CEO Victor McNelli.

In fact, at the same time that Eric was in contact with Universal, Bill Olsen, president of Firefly Electronics, had already flown to Europe with a prototype of the mini music store to lobby the two major record labels, EMI and BMG.

Similar to the previous two years, the launch of the new Fireflyer player is also scheduled for Easter in April this year, which is about a month away.

In the face of the pressure brought by the electronic manufacturers who have announced their entry into the field of digital music players, and considering the strong auxiliary role that the Mini Music Store plan can play in maintaining the leading position of Fireflyer players in the market once it succeeds, the main focus of both Firefly Electronics and Yahoo in the next month is to reach a close cooperative relationship with at least one of the five major record companies to obtain each other's music rights resources and make up for the shortcomings of the Mini Music Store in terms of content.

Among the five major record companies, because of their own music player products, Sony's Sony Records is undoubtedly the most difficult bone to gnaw, and Eric basically does not report any expectations, so he has no intention of contacting the other party. Warner Records is affiliated with Time Warner, AOL and Time Warner have just announced the merger, at this time Time Warner's internal management system will be more complicated, and all parties want to cooperate with Warner Records within a month, the probability is also close to zero.

Next, only Universal Records, EMI Records, and BMG Records remained.

Among the three, Universal Music, which just acquired PolyGram last year to further consolidate its position as the world's largest record group, is undoubtedly the best choice, although Eric did not show any cards at all in his statement just now, but as long as it can promote this cooperation, he definitely does not mind paying a certain price.

Of course, Eric didn't set his sights on Universal Music, which is why Bill Olsen flew to Europe.

After discussing with Victor McNelly on the phone for more than half an hour, Eric hung up the phone, looked at his watch, and had some time before leaving work, then opened a document on his desk and picked up the pencil next to him.

The action of holding the pen in his right hand inevitably affected the bite marks on the outside of his arm that had begun to scab, so he couldn't help but lift his sleeve and look at the gauze wrapped around his arm.

After the events of that afternoon, because the children were frightened, and because of the shocking bite marks on Eric's arm, Virginia indiscriminately counted Eric down, and even Joanna showed a rare little emotion.

Back in Los Angeles, the scene was even more lively, and the women came to watch the 'tragic scene' of Eric's bite.

The girl expressed her envy and wanted to take another bite on Eric's arm to leave her mark.

The chick's attention is instead focused on how Eric provoked the girl named Carmen Keys.

Elizabeth directly threw out two words, she deserved it.

Julia looked very distressed, but the little eyes seemed to want Eric to do the same on her.

Nicole carefully examined Eric's wound and was very sympathetic, but 'accidentally' ripped off a freshly formed blood scab, and then innocently claimed that she had scar removal obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Famick felt that the bite mark was a little off, and it would have looked better if he had been able to bite into the center of the outside of his arm.

All right.

They are all unconscionable.

Only Caroline showed a very distressed look after seeing the bite mark on Eric's arm, and called Olivia to tell her, and then naturally there was a concern from the UK.

Unconsciously remembered the girl with a petite face and resolute eyes, Paris Fashion Week opened today, and she should have started the catwalk now.

With that in mind, he reviewed a few more papers, and when he was about to leave work, the secretary knocked on the door, indicating that Kenneth Horn was outside.

Suspiciously letting the other party in, Kenneth Horn walked into the office with an excited expression and said, "Eric, I just received a call from the manager of several theaters, guess what the attendance rate of "Blair the Witch" is?"

"It must be excellent," Eric said with a smile after putting down his pencil and signing his name at the end of a document, "or you wouldn't have been in such a hurry." ”

"It's not outstanding, it's just outstanding," Kenneth Horn said, pulling a chair across from Eric, "The manager of the REGR Cinemas told me that the 50 theaters they had arranged were almost full for the whole day, and the tickets for tomorrow were sold out. The same is true for several other cinema chains, who suggested that we immediately increase the scale of the film schedule. ”

Eric nodded, "Then increase, you can arrange these things yourself." ”

Fireflies are naturally different from the craftsmen of the past, and since it is the off-season of the film, it only takes a week to increase the scale of the screening.

"Hey, Eric, you don't seem to be excited at all," Kenneth Horn deliberately showed a dissatisfied expression, "You know, a $32,000 investment in a movie, even if you add the cost of post-production repairs, is only $60,000." If all 200 theaters are fully booked up in the coming week, we can definitely pull off a box office miracle. ”

"We've done enough miracles," Eric smiled and put down his pen, looked up, and said, "Well, since you're so excited, give you a chance, you can have dinner tonight, and you can call Jeffrey and them." Of course, if you don't make an appointment with your family to go back for dinner. ”

Kenneth Horn nodded a little 'depressed', and gossiped: "It's Friday, don't you have any arrangements?"

"Nope. ”

Eric moved his wrist slightly, and after the women watched for a while, he was in a state of deliberately snubbing him recently.

As the two were talking, Eric's personal cell phone rang, and after glancing at the caller, he answered the phone directly in front of Kenneth Horn: "Hey, Warren, long time no see...... Of course, what about you...... I'm still at Firefly Studios, and I'm going to ask everyone to go to dinner together, do you want to come...... Oh, you tell me where you live, and I'll have someone pick you up. ”

After a few words, Eric hung up the phone.

Kenneth Horn saw that Eric didn't hide from himself, so he took the initiative to ask, "Warren, Warren Buffett?"

Eric nodded, "I think it's for the Clover Fund." ”

Although Kenneth Horn has not been able to directly see the financial data of the Clover Fund, this matter is not a secret for an executive of his performance, so he asked curiously: "Speaking of which, the stock value of the Clover Fund should be $30 billion now, right?"

"It already exceeded $30 billion last week. ”

"I don't know much about stocks," Kenneth Horn said, with a look of amazement, "But, Eric, I've heard that the Nasdaq is shaky, and everyone is selling tech stocks right now, so you should be more cautious." ”

Although Eric will not easily change his decision, he will naturally not accept the kind advice of others, and nodded: "I understand, na, call Jeffrey and them, since Warren is here, let's entertain them together." ”

"I think you just want us to be there so that Buffett can't talk about convincing you to sell your stock," Kenneth Horn laughed as he punctured Eric's intentions, but pulled out his phone and started calling.

Although Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Firefly Group is only 5%, if all the $3 million worth of shares can be cashed out, Berkshire Hathaway can still get at least $1 billion even after deducting various fees and taxes.

$1 billion is a cash deposit that cannot be ignored for any business.

However, once the Nasdaq crashes, Clover Fund's shares are likely to be locked up for a long time, and unless they are cut out of the market, it is impossible to cash out any cash in the short term.

As a conservative and cautious man at heart, Warren Buffett obviously didn't want to see this happen, so he rushed from Omaha to Los Angeles.

It's just that at the dinner party in the evening, no matter how much the old man persuaded him, Eric had no intention of selling the shares of the Clover Fund in advance.

Things have developed so far, and Eric is actually completely gambling.

As long as the Nasdaq index can successfully cross the 3,000-point threshold without collapsing, according to the previous upward curve of the Nasdaq, the cash scale cashed out by the Clover Fund in the future is likely to reach more than $40 billion or even $50 billion.

At that time, even after paying various taxes, the Firefly Group can still keep about $30 billion to $35 billion in cash.

Such a large amount of money, combined with the cash reserves of Firefly Investments, was enough for Eric to take the opportunity to further expand the economic empire of the Firefly system in the face of the downturn in the North American economy after the collapse of the Nasdaq, while also diluting his shareholding in his own business as little as possible.

The lobbying worked, and Buffett deserved to leave Los Angeles the next day.

At the same time, even though the weekend has not yet passed, news has been pouring across North America about the possibility of "Blair the Witch" being a box office miracle, with plenty of media outlets showing photos of fans lining up outside "Blair the Witch" theaters.

Moreover, some professional film critics have also joined in and began to discuss the phenomenon of "Blair the Witch" enthusiastically.

Although most film critics still ruthlessly criticize "Blair the Witch", and unceremoniously expose the fact that "Blair the Witch" is definitely a man-made film and not an adventure documentary through various professional analyses, the matter has developed to the point where the public no longer cares about the truth or falsity of the Blair witch incident.

Everyone is just curious about what this film, which seems to be discussed all over the world, is like.

So, when three days passed in the first weekend and the box office data for the new week came out, the breathtaking box office data of "Blair the Witch" once again added a hot discussion focus to the film.

$11.2 million.

Here are the box office figures for the first three days of "Blair the Witch".

is only a box office of more than 10 million, for many blockbusters, if such a result is achieved within three days of opening, it can definitely be said to be a box office fiasco.

But at this time, after a series of data disclosures, everyone can only describe it as a miracle.

Because, the filming cost of "Blair the Witch" was only $32,000.

Even if you include the image quality restoration that the Firefly Group did to make the copy, the total cost is only $60,000.

With a production budget of $60,000, that's just second.

What's even more rare is that the scale of this film is only 200 screens, which is equivalent to three days of the first weekend, and the box office of a single theater in each screening room reached $56,000.

Without contrast, there is no harm.

Take a look at Mel Gibson's crime action blockbuster "Dangerous Man", which was released at the same time.

In the second week of the film's release, it grossed $14.37 million the following weekend, $3 million higher than "Blair the Witch," and a total of $41.33 million in ten days.

However, "Dangerous Person" did have more than 2,700 screens, and the box office of a single theater in the same period was only a little more than $5,000, less than one-tenth of that of "Blair the Witch". Moreover, the production cost of "Dangerous Man" reached 90 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 1,500 times the entire production budget of "Blair the Witch".

Compared with such a disparity in production costs and release scale, the box office of "Dangerous Man" only exceeded that of "Blair the Witch" by a mere $3 million, and in any case, it can only be described as a failure.

Of course, there is another problem in this.

Why is Mel Gibson, a big-budget film with an investment of $90 million, left out in the March slot, which is like a graveyard?

The reason is simple.

Because this film was completely financed by Mel Gibson's personal production company, Icon Entertainment, and no major studios were involved in the production.

Although the film is distributed by Paramount, Paramount will naturally only leave the best quality schedule and publicity resources for its own films, as for the films of other independent film companies, even if there are big stars and big productions and big investments, but without its own participation, Paramount will naturally not devote itself to it, and will even have a tacit understanding to suppress it.

Speaking of which, after Columbia abandoned the distribution, Adam Sandler worked alone with a solo studio for "Daddy Rushes Forward", although Warner Bros. was finally determined as the distributor, but the schedule was still set in August at the end of the summer season.

Although Hollywood films are also becoming more and more prosperous, with the completion of the integration of media groups, it will become more and more difficult for solo film companies to get a piece of the pie.