Out of concern about hindering media freedom, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has imposed restrictions on the number of media in the same region for a media company, and in the early days, the FCC even stipulated that a television network could no longer have more than two public television stations in the same region at the same time, but these restrictions have been relaxed under the development of the times and the promotion of capital forces, otherwise it would not have led to the phenomenon of several major media companies in North America monopolizing news channels.

However, at this time, the FCC's restrictions were still relatively strict, and ABC's television network covered the entire United States, and in order to pass the FCC review, Firefly had to promise to divest a public youth television station in Los Angeles that it had acquired when it acquired Disney within a certain period of time.

These issues were resolved, and Firefly's merger with ABC was quickly reviewed by the FCC.

At the same time as the FCC review, Firefly began a large-scale debt financing program. Firefly has achieved ultra-high profitability in the last two years, but in order to ensure the company's sufficient cash flow, Eric only intends to draw $2 billion in cash from the company for this acquisition, and the remaining $8 billion will be raised through the issuance of bonds.

Firefly and the future combined ABC TV network have a large amount of good assets, coupled with the same stable operating conditions and profit expectations of the two companies, no one will doubt the future solvency of Firefly, and credit rating agencies such as Moody's maintain a very high credit rating on Firefly at about AA.

Therefore, for a whole week, Eric was surrounded by investment bank executives from Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and from all over the world, after all, involving the issuance of $8 billion in bonds, if the investment banks get this business, the basic commission and the interest rate spread earned in the issuance process are enough for them to get hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, and the annual profits of most investment banks in the United States in the nineties were only about one billion dollars.

In order to raise this huge amount of money as soon as possible. Eric followed Chris's advice and selected Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank as lead underwriters to undertake a $4 billion bond offering and raise funds in North America and Europe.

It was a really busy week in New York, because of the constant media crowd, Eric didn't even get to Long Island to visit his soon-to-be-one-year-old children, let alone Catherine, who was also in New York.

March 21. While things were still going on in New York, Eric had to get on a plane back to Los Angeles to attend the 66th Academy Awards.

Firefly's small Gulfstream business jet landed at Santa Monica Airport, feeling someone tap on his shoulder, Eric opened his eyes and saw the tall stewardess in front of him, Eric nodded lightly and stood up.

During my week in New York, I couldn't rest until late at night every day. The only thing Eric wants now is to get a good night's sleep.

Walking off the plane alone with a suitcase, he looked at his watch, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and feeling the warm sun overhead, Eric realized that the watch showed Eastern Time, and it should still be two o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, five hours before the start of the Oscars.

As one of the most important film awards events in the United States and even in the world, the stars who attend the Oscars are often ready within days of the ceremony. Eric thought to himself that this was not a common situation, and he had only received an award line from the Oscars organizing committee three days earlier. It's just that because he was discussing the details of the bond issuance with the acquisition team at the time, Eric only took a few brief glances, and now his mind has basically forgotten about it.

However, fortunately, what he wants to award is the final best film, and as the award ceremony ends, there will not be too many restrictions on the lines of the award presenters. Feel free to play around, Eric is sure that no one in the academy will settle accounts with him.

It was Capper who came to pick him up, and although Eric's identity is far from the directorial level, matters such as attending events will still be arranged by ICM.

The two laughed and got into a business van, and Kapoor joked to Eric, "You're the only one who is so careless about Oscar." Some celebrities in the company heard that they were going to attend, and they would even be unable to sleep for several days in a row. ”

Eric smiled and gestured to Capper with a faint dark circle under his eyes, and smiled, "I can't even guarantee that I won't fall asleep at the Oscars right now, by the way, they won't give me a seat in the first row, right?"

Kapoor said, "What do you think? Who would dare to put you in a secondary corner now?" ”

"Okay," Eric shrugged, "if I snooze at the Oscars, I'm sure I'll add to the ratings for the awards show." ”

Kapoor laughed, and after a moment, he said, "By the way, have you been following the latest Hollywood news?"

Eric shook his head and said, "No, what's wrong?"

"Last week, Michael Ovitz sold his stake in CAA, and this morning, Japan's Panasonic Group announced the appointment of Michael Ovitz as president of Universal Pictures, and Michael Eisner is about to undergo heart surgery," Karpoor paused, saying, "Michael Eisner's heart problems are very serious, and I heard that the success rate of the quadruple bypass surgery to be performed this time is only about 75%. ”

Eric and Kapoor didn't have any friendship with Michael Eisner, not to mention that Eric was well aware of the results of Michael Eisner's heart surgery, so he didn't have any ideas, just asked, "Didn't Panasonic let Michael Eisner leave?"

"Global's business situation has been improving for the past two years, and Michael Eisner will be able to return to his usual work as long as he successfully completes heart surgery, and the Japanese are waiting for the results. ”

"I think Universal will definitely be in trouble in the future," Eric said with a smile, "Although Michael Ovitz has run the CAA very well, the film company is not an agency after all, and if Michael Eisner does not survive this operation, then it will not be so easy for Michael Ovitz to maintain the situation of Universal." If Michael Eisner had been able to complete the operation, the situation would have been even more interesting. ”

Capper saw a gloating smile on Eric's face and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz are very good friends, but this is only in the absence of a power dispute in the company, both of them are very controlling people, once Michael Eisner successfully survives the operation, then Universal Pictures is likely to fall into an internal power struggle," Eric said, and suddenly asked, "By the way, did Michael Eisner have an employment agreement for Michael Ovitz to prepare a golden parachute or something?"

In my memory, Michael Ovitz took away more than $100 million in severance compensation after working at Disney for more than a year, because Michael Eisner tailored a golden parachute agreement with a very high compensation amount for Michael Ovitz in advance.

Otherwise, Michael Ovitz would not have given up CAA so simply to join Universal Pictures, and when Sony first bought Columbia, he also asked Michael Ovitz to take charge of the company, and Michael Ovitz immediately turned it down. ”

"That's it," Eric smiled and nodded, "Let's just wait and see the show, the world will definitely be very lively in the future." ”

Kapoor nodded, but his expression was a little strange.

Eric noticed Kapoor's look and smiled and asked, "You don't want to be a studio executive like Michael Ovitz, do you?"

Kapoor nodded slightly, not denying it.

Eric is well aware that most agency executives aspire to be at the top of the studio, which means not only better salaries, but also more power.

However, although there are many cases in the history of Hollywood where agents have turned film company executives and producers, there are not many cases that have been very successful, and in the memory of Eric's previous life, only Ron Meyer, who successfully took charge of Universal Pictures, can be regarded as the head of a big film company.

From the bottom of his heart, Eric did not advise Kapoor to change careers, but in the face of Kapoor's thoughts, Eric didn't know how to persuade him, and it seemed that he could only let the facts prove it.

"Let's talk about tonight's Oscars, I haven't paid much attention to it, what awards are more promising for "Pulp Fiction"?"

"There are no big-name director competitions this year, and I think Quentin has a good chance of winning the best director," Kapoor said, putting aside what had just happened, "However, the most stable should be the best original screenplay." ”

Eric remembered that this year's Best Actor in his previous life should have been Tom Hanks, but because Hanks filmed "Saving Private Ryan" in advance, "The Philadelphia Story" changed the actor, and Eric did not see the nomination for the Best Actor in "The Philadelphia Story" at the Golden Globe Awards, but, thinking of another person, Eric shook his head and said: "Then John Travolta's Best Actor should be no play, right?"

Kapoor nodded: "Daniel Day Lewis lost to Al Pacino in Best Actor for My Left Foot a few years ago, and he was nominated for a second time this year, and his chances of winning the award are much better than John Travolta. ”

While "Pulp Fiction" wow critics and fans alike, there were no strong competitors this year. But Eric eventually found that the chances of the film winning important awards such as Best Picture were still very low due to the limitations of the subject matter, and the subsequent facts proved this. (To be continued.) )