I don't know how long it took, there was still an inexplicable warmth in the office, and Kelly Haynes sat quietly across the desk, holding a pencil in her hand to help Eric supplement the score according to the memories she had just made, and occasionally answering the questions posed by the man opposite.

Regarding Eric's discovery in the "Los Angeles Times" in the morning that Ron Perelman bought the bonds of the Firefly Group, whether it was Katzenberg or Chris in New York, the conclusion given by Katzenberg and Chris in New York was not worried, and Buffett, who held the same view, also handed Eric a detailed handwritten letter to try to reassure him.

Because there are many precedents, it is not difficult to guess that the wolf of Wall Street is likely to take advantage of the wind caused by Firefly's internal reform of the animation department, and take advantage of the situation to join other creditors to join the Firefly board of directors, obtain a number of directors, and participate in the group's operation and management decisions.

If you think about it in the longer term, this is only the first step in Ron Perelman's plan.

After successfully joining the Firefly board of directors, Ron Perelman had to wait for the moment when the Firefly business was in trouble.

Film and television media has always been a very high-risk industry, although Hollywood has gone through a century of ups and downs, it is still the big film companies. But in fact, the owners of these studios don't know how many times they have been replaced, and every time the studio goes bankrupt because of the failure of the film, the original owner may take the initiative or be forced to transfer it to the next one.

After the completion of the current bond issuance, Firefly Group's accumulated debt will reach US$10 billion, and the total final repayment is expected to be around US$15 billion, based on various interest calculation formulas for different bonds. Based on the average tenor of a 10-year bond. Firefly then needed an average of $1.5 billion a year in debt expenditures. Of course. This is just theoretical data. And, although it looks like this figure even exceeds the annual profit of Firefly in previous years. However, in reality, based on the annual market capitalization and revenue growth expectations of Firefly Group, as well as the complex tax deduction system, this expense will not be a burden on Firefly Group.

However, there is a premise for all this, and that is that Firefly's business performance has been maintained in good condition.

However, in the minds of all people in the industry. It is almost impossible for a media group with film and television business as its core to maintain a stable level of performance. Perhaps the failure of several big-budget films or TV series in the next year or two may cause the Firefly Group to be financially strained, and the domino effect formed when the 'locomotive' is not powered will also cause other businesses to be sluggish, and thus form a vicious circle.

Ron Perelman is waiting for that moment in the future.

In the event of a troubled spell, creditors can file a debt-for-equity swap request with the Federal Exchange Commission and Firefly Board of Directors under the pretext of protecting the safety of their own funds. In this way, the creditor becomes the owner of the Firefly Group.

In the original time and space, MGM, which was burdened with huge debts, hovered more than once on the verge of being opposed by creditors.

From Warren Buffett's handwritten letter. The sharp-eyed investment mogul analyzed that Ron Perelman's biggest reliance on the attack was likely to be to work with Disney's hand-drawn animation division to put pressure on Firefly shareholders. Buffett said that if he hadn't seen the material that night, because of the huge profits that "The Lion King" was expected to generate, he would have judged that Eric would do whatever it takes to keep Disney's hand-drawn animation division safe, and that could be a bargaining chip for creditors to join the board.

However, now that Eric had good reason to reform Disney's animation division, Ron Perelman's leverage was not valid from the start. Buffett also said earnestly that Berkshire Hathaway will stand firmly on Eric's side and can provide maximum help, even if other things happen.

After reading a few documents, Eric looked up at Kelly and asked, "Have you read Buffett's letter?"

Kelly shook her head, confused, "What's wrong?"

"You take a look first," Eric handed over Buffett's handwritten letter.

Kelly quickly read the contents of the letter, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't think there's a problem, what Buffett said makes a lot of sense." ”

"I don't mean that, you look at the last paragraph. ”

Kelly read the last paragraph, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly, thought about it, and said, "Buffy asked Norbokshire Hathaway to stand firmly on the side of the fireflies, and there seems to be no problem, I think it's a good thing." ”

"Don't you think this promise is too generous for Warren Buffett's personality, who has turned the pursuit of profit maximization into an instinct?"

Kelly smiled and said, "Eric, you are too suspicious, I think Mr. Buffett is more likely to take a fancy to your ability and want to pull you to Berkshire Hathaway as his successor, hehe." ”

Listening to Kelly's joke, Eric laughed too, no longer dwelling on the issue.

After a quick review of all the documents, Eric suddenly remembered that he had been released by Peter Schneider this morning, and looked up and asked, "Did you see Peter Schneider at today's high-level meeting?"

Kelly said, "No, shouldn't he and Roy Disney be on your side?"

Eric frowned, and quickly said, "Kelly, help me inquire about the whereabouts of the two of them?"

Kelly noticed Eric's sudden serious look and said, "Now?"

"Yes, now, right now. ”

Kelly nodded, took out her mobile phone and address book, rummaged through it, and began to call.

Eric picked up a pen and quickly wrote out information about Firefly Group, Disney Animation, Ron Perelman, Chris, Warren Buffett, David West, and so on on on a piece of scratch paper, and connected the relevant words with his usual lines, and soon formed a web.

The blank space in the middle of the net was quickly filled in by Eric with another word.

It didn't take long for Kelly to put down the phone. He said to Eric, "The two of them can't get through on their personal phone calls. All I heard was that Peter Schneider and Roy Disney went to New York. The specifics are less clear. ”

When Eric heard about New York, he basically understood, and said, "No need to check, they must have gone to see Ron Perelman." ”

Kelly immediately thought of the intention of the two executives to meet Ron Perelman and asked, "So what now?"

Eric's smile became a little mysterious, and he said, "This is a good time to retaliate." ”

Kelly was a little confused, and Eric continued: "Tomorrow is the premiere of "Breaking Bad", right?"

Kelly recalled Eric's schedule and asked, "Didn't you say you weren't going to attend?"

"Go. Gotta go, and everyone go together," Eric patted the table lightly and said, "Those three old men who are still in Los Angeles, and Chris from New York, let him fly over tomorrow too, well, and Katzenberg and Michael Lynn......"

After thinking about it, Eric didn't continue to add people.

The people just mentioned are all communities of interest closely related to the Firefly Group. Needless to say, the shareholders of Buffett and Chris are definitely trustworthy. Katzenberg is the next CEO of Firefly, if even he can't be trusted. There's no need for Eric to continue playing in Hollywood. The last Michael Lynn, although he is leaving, is also a minority shareholder of the Firefly Group.

As for the other higher-ups, Eric temporarily dismissed the idea of telling them, after all, the fewer people who knew about something in his mind, the better.

Oh, and there seems to be an insider.

In the original article on the analysis of the 2D animation industry, Eric specifically asked different staff in the assistant office to collect different information, and the final compilation work was done by Kelly herself, so she was the only one who was proud to get a glimpse of the full picture of the 'chain of evidence'. Moreover, whether it is Kelly's status as Eric's first assistant or the current intimacy between the two, Eric does not want to exclude her.

Eric looked at Kelly Haynes in front of him and said with a smile: "You will come with you tomorrow, after watching the movie, let's talk together." ”

Kelly also realized at this time that tomorrow is definitely not as simple as just watching a movie, and there must be something else to happen. However, Eric's unhesitating trust also warmed her heart.

"So I'm going to inform them first?"

Eric shook his head and said, "I'll make these calls myself, you can help prepare a few premiere invitations." In addition, don't forget to send a car to pick up Buffett tomorrow, with Buffett here, the three old men will definitely not be willing to spend money, in case they appear outside the red carpet in a taxi, I can't afford to lose this person. ”

"Hehe, okay. ”

……

After a record-breaking box office of more than $46 million in three days of its opening weekend, "The Lion King" has reached a staggering $69 million in seven days of its first week. Correspondingly, the western film "Law Enforcement", which has a production cost of more than 63 million US dollars alone, only has a pitiful box office of more than 10 million in the first week, and Warner, a big-budget film originally aimed at sniping "The Lion King", not only failed to complete its "mission", but fell behind "True Lies", "Star Trek 7" and "Saving Private Ryan" other than "The Lion King", and completely became the cannon fodder work of this hot summer file.

In the face of direct losses of more than $70 million, in order to give an explanation to shareholders, Warner involved the director, producer and several corresponding executives of "Law Enforcement" to become the second batch of unlucky people in Hollywood's "expulsion season" after Paramount's "Beverly Hills Police Detective 3".

Eric himself did not expect that before "Future Water World", Kevin Costner had already experienced a quiet tragedy, the first part of "Mission Impossible" in this time and space had entered post-production, Eric had seen the sample in detail, and he was still very satisfied with the results of Kevin Costner's version of Ethan Hunt and Brian de Parma.

Therefore, Eric's only concern after "Law Enforcement Warriors" is whether "Future Water World" will be yellow, if there is no "power" of this film, then Flower Pictures will definitely face Kevin Costner's lion on the sequel to "Mission Impossible".

The day before July, the new version of "Breaking Bad," which Eric secretly leads, held a grand premiere in Los Angeles.

After experiencing "Rain Man" in 1988, MGM has been silent for six consecutive years, during which no more than ten films have been released in most years, and none of the films have exceeded 100 million at the box office. After many twists and turns, last year's plan to complete the company's recovery by MGM's two new helms, CEO Frank Marcacso and President John Cali, also failed.

Now, DreamWorks Productions' ten-film production plan and the reboot of the 007 series by Luen Mei have become MGM's last resort. In the event of another failure, MGM's only way out is to go into bankruptcy liquidation and auction off the company's assets to pay off its massive debt of more than a billion dollars. 75% of MGM's shares in the hands of Crédit Lyonnais will become a pile of waste paper.

Compared with the nervousness, anxiety or expectation of MGM's executives, Crédit Lyonnais, and the major European shareholders of DreamWorks Productions, Eric is more relaxed. Eric has put enough thought into this film, from the script to the actors, from the director to the producer, who are personally appointed by Eric from memory, and his involvement in the production progress and final editing of the film is far more than that of other films.

Judging from the results of several test screenings of the new version of "Breaking Bad", the filmmakers and ordinary audiences who participated in the test screening have given enough praise, and if this film still fails, it can only be said that the sky does not bless MGM.

As for Eric himself, he has experienced so much glory since his rebirth, and while he hasn't grown too much to expect defeat, he definitely doesn't fear failure either.

Although he had no plans to attend the premiere, since he had changed his mind and appeared on the scene, Eric dutifully made a gesture. was interviewed by reporters on the red carpet, and specially recruited the three girls to his side for a series of group photos to meet the gossip of the media at the scene.

When Buffett's three old men walked out of a luxury RV at the end of the red carpet one after another, Eric immediately greeted him, said hello, and ignored the media people who became more boiling because of Buffett's appearance, and took the three of them into the theater.

***

PS: Today's three more are 12,000

*(To be continued.) )