Due to the cyber attacks and eavesdropping incidents that occurred in the past few days, the Firefly system has been reorganizing various aspects of security measures in recent times, and ensuring the security of email and mobile communications are two of the most important things. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

It just so happened that Canada's RIM had just signed a cooperation agreement with Sprint, a telecom operator invested by Firefly, and Kelly recommended RIM's BlackBerry to Eric.

RIM announced that the BlackBerry phone with Sprint's CDMA network could meet the information security and confidentiality requirements of both email and mobile communications, and Eric decided to promote the phone within the Firefly system.

At the same time, by the way, the acquisition of RIM, which is still in the early stages of development, is a matter of course.

The BlackBerry is also a good fit for Nokia's sub-brand that focuses on business security.

Compared with Nokia, which has exceeded $100 billion in market value in recent months, RIM's stock price has also risen sharply recently, but its current market value is only more than $260 million. In any case, buying RIM would be a very good deal.

Moreover, combined with the information in his hand and the information in his memory, Eric also found that the situation of the BlackBerry mobile phone was almost exactly the same as that of the MP3 player.

In the past, these two products have had a very mature technology accumulation before they were popularized on a large scale. But because they missed the best time for commercial promotion, after many years of ups and downs, the two products have just become popular, and they are both quickly squeezed out of the market by new electronic products. MP3 players are being eliminated by various types of music phones, and BlackBerry phones are being eliminated by touchscreen smartphones with more abundant applications.

Now, Eric can clearly see the market potential of BlackBerry. Then, there is no need to wait for opportunities such as the high-level of the U.S. government during the 911 period to use BlackBerry to receive disaster scene information in real time, and with the powerful channel and resource advantages of the Firefly system, BlackBerry can be promoted in advance.

Moreover, if there is more time to complete the layout of BlackBerry and related peripheral services, even if the era of smartphones comes, Eric believes that BlackBerry, which focuses on high-end business and security, will not decline as quickly as it once did.

Taking the document handed over by Mayer and flipping it open, Eric asked casually, "What are the problems?"

"The most important thing is the patents," Mayer replied, "and Nokia's evaluation of the BlackBerry found that the phone infringed at least more than 20 of the company's patents. Moreover, the core patent for the wireless mail push function of the BlackBerry is not in the hands of RIM, but is held by a company called NTP in Virginia. RIM is still small at the moment and has not attracted much attention. However, if we buy BlackBerry, then patent holders such as NTP will definitely file a patent lawsuit, and it may even cause BlackBerry to be banned from the federal market. ”

Over the years, Eric has been very concerned about the patent layout of the companies under the Firefly system, and the most critical reason is that it has been affected by a series of patent wars in memory. Among them, the wireless mail patent battle between RIM and NTP is undoubtedly the most impressive.

In 2006, after six years of tug-of-war litigation, NTP was finally able to claim more than $600 million in patent damages from RIM in near-blackmail through a series of wireless mail patents.

Looking at RIM's current market capitalization of less than $300 million, even if history does not change, for RIM in 2006, the patent compensation fee of $600 million is definitely a blow to the bones.

Of course, if you think about it carefully, the $600 million compensation must have been biased by the federal government.

Although the focus of RIM's business was in North America, it was still a Canadian company after all, but NTP was an American company, and the federal government naturally could not face outsiders.

Knocking on the table and thinking for a moment, Eric said: "Isn't the patent for e-mail in our hands, and isn't there a research and development of wireless mail technology on the side of Yahoo or Firefly Electronics?"

"Yes, but it's not as comprehensive as NTP. Mayer nodded and continued: "Although wireless email has some technical overlap with email, it is not completely a derivative of email technology. NTP was founded in 1992, and the registration time of the other party's patent was almost the same as the registration time of the email patent held by Yahoo. I've consulted with the patent administrations of Yahoo and Firefly Electronics. They said that according to the degree of overlap in technology between the two parties, if a lawsuit is filed, we are confident that we will be able to obtain all the wireless mail patent licenses from NTP for free. ”

Eric said, "But surely it will take time?"

"Yes, according to the process of similar cases, we want to get authorization for free, and it will take at least a year. But if Nokia initiates an acquisition of BlackBerry at the same time, causing NTP to be alerted, the process will definitely take longer," Mayer said here, paused, and said directly: "So, the best way is to acquire." NTP's patents have not yet been widely used, and it only takes about $6 million to buy the company. Of course, if we are too eager, we will definitely have to pay a considerable premium, and the final transaction price may be 8 million to 10 million US dollars. ”

The acquisition of less than $10 million is completely insignificant for Eric's current net worth.

However, this is not the case.

Even if there is no memory of the past, whether or not to win NTP's patent is also crucial for the future layout of BlackBerry. Mayer obviously saw this too, and only mentioned it in front of Eric.

"Then let Nokia buy this company as soon as possible," Eric thought for a moment and quickly made a decision: "On RIM's side, you can slow down a little and wait for another two or three months." ”

According to the current trend of the technology stock market, the Nasdaq index is estimated to last only another two or three months at most, and when the time comes, technology stocks will plummet across the board, and RIM will definitely not be able to escape the catastrophe. Launching an acquisition after that would not only save a significant amount of money, but would also be significantly more likely to succeed. ”

Mayer nodded, and immediately added: "It is better to use a shell company to initiate the acquisition of NTP." ”

Eric smiled and said, "I sometimes can't think of these details, you can decide for yourself." ”

Mayer answered, bowed his head and began to record it in a pocket memo.

Eric sat at his desk, looking at the girl standing opposite him in an OL suit writing seriously, and suddenly felt a feeling, and said softly: "Mary, it's good to have you by my side." ”

Mayer paused as he wrote, and although he didn't look up, his face was visibly flushed.

Quickly scribbling a few more notes on the memo in her palm, the female assistant glanced up at Eric, turned around and left the study.

Four hours later, the Boeing 747 landed at Ventura Airport.

Although it was still work time, Katzenberg personally arrived with Caroline to pick up the plane.

After greeting each other, they got into the car, and although there had been close communication between the two sides during this time, Katzenberg still couldn't wait to talk about the recent affairs.

"There are at least three forces behind this eavesdropping incident, but so far only the tail of the Tiger Fund has been caught. Ian and I have been discussing security issues for companies lately, including surveillance systems, confidentiality regulations, and security personnel. Eric, aren't you asking Carter to set up a separate team of bodyguards? I thought, instead of leaving the security of the Firefly system to outsiders, we should do it ourselves, and set up a special security company that includes all the business we need to serve the entire Firefly system. ”

Eric listened to Katzenberg's words, noticed that Carter Moen, who was driving in the front seat, couldn't help but look in the rearview mirror a few times, and smiled: "Carter, what do you think?"

"Boss, although I would love to take on this responsibility. But, frankly, if I had to go big, I might not be up to the task. ”

Eric nodded and said to Katzenberg beside him: "Actually, the key to this matter is to find a trustworthy and capable person, although the level of this company can be raised to the level of being directly responsible for me personally, but the specific things still need to be done by professional people." The firefly system is too big, and if we blindly go to find people, we are likely to be taken advantage of. ”

"You can let the headhunter look for some candidates first, and then we'll pick slowly," Katzenberg said, "In any case, it's definitely better than leaving things to outsiders." ”

"That's it," Eric agreed, "I'll ask Kelly to come up with a plan first, which departments need to be established, as well as budgets, etc., if you have any suggestions, you can also tell me directly." ”

"So, Viacom," said Katzenberg, "Eric, what are you going to do?"

"I've been looking at Viacom's earnings reports in recent years, and my biggest impression is that Viacom's business has been expanding rapidly over the years, but the company as a whole is in decline. Just like Blockbuster, Viacom originally bought the videotape rental and sales chain, spending more than $8 billion, but just a few years later, the company's market value has shrunk to its current $3 billion. Although the videotape industry is rapidly declining, the home entertainment market, which has been gradually replaced by DVDs, has been expanding rapidly, and the output value of the entire home entertainment market was close to $20 billion last year, almost three times the North American box office of Hollywood. However, Blockbuster's market share has slipped from 45% at its peak to 25% now. Do you know what the problem is?"

Katzenberg didn't think about it and said, "Lei Shidong?"

"Yes, Lei Shidong," Eric nodded, "Lei Shidong is too old to keep up with the times. What's more, he still refused to give power to the managers below, and has always held all the power of Viacom tightly in his own hands, which is the root of Viacom's decline. In my opinion, Lei Shidong is like a founding king who was able to conquer and fight well in ancient times, although he conquered a huge territory, he did not have enough ability to govern a country, and at the same time he was unwilling to hand over power to those courtiers who were capable of governing the country. The result, then, of this 'country' can only be to decline. ”

The two old men in Hollywood, in Eric's opinion, Murdoch is much stronger than Lei Shidong, which is why although News Corp.'s fundamental print media business declined rapidly, Fox is still running very well.

In comparison, Lei Shidong has completely become a tyrant who is stubborn and self-serving.

In the original time and space, Paramount fell out with Cruise for a "Mission Impossible" series, and also went to great lengths to rectify the other party, which actually reflected the decline of Paramount and even Viacom from another aspect.

A Hollywood giant is reduced to having a star for the benefit of a movie, even if it is a first-line superstar, it is too cheap. What's even more expensive is that he ran out of gas, and he had to put down his body and continue to cooperate with the other party.

Katzenberg realized, but quickly said, "Eric, I know you're angry about this recent incident, but it's not realistic to push Lei Shidong down. Although the Lei Shidong family does not have an absolute stake in Viacom, they own more than half of the voting rights in the company. ”

"I didn't think so," Eric shook his head, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and said, "Think about this kind of scene, an old king who is stubbornly guarding his throne, but can only watch his kingdom collapse step by step, is it tragic enough, is there a sense of epic?"

Katzenberg felt a chill all over his body, and nodded subconsciously: "Then what are you going to do?"

Eric shook his head: "Don't worry, wait until "Iron Man" is released." ”

It's important to fight the enemy, but the most important thing is to save yourself first.

At the moment, "Iron Man" is what Eric is most concerned about, this opening work of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is crucial for Firefly Pictures' future film map, Eric does not plan to make extraneous branches at such a critical moment, after all, "Iron Man" will be released in a few days, and some things will only need to wait another week or two at most.

Back at Sharp Corner Manor, it was only past two o'clock in the afternoon here in Los Angeles, and Katzenberg still had work to do, so he sat for a while and left quickly.

The villa was still empty and deserted, the girl had not yet returned from Australia, but Elizabeth and Julia had returned, and Eric had just received a call from her in the car.

Seeing Katzenberg away, Eric returned to the couch by the villa's glass curtain wall and sat down, stretching casually. Recently, a series of events have come one after another, and Eric has accumulated a strong sense of exhaustion in his heart after all, and when he returns home at this time, he looks at the blue sea and blue sky outside the curtain wall, and his mood is much lighter.

Caroline and Mayer hadn't left yet, and were helping Eric pack his bags.

After a while, Caroline came over with a pot of coffee, put it down on the coffee table next to Eric, quietly leaned over and sat down beside him, and said, "Eric, my aunt said she plans to come to Los Angeles next week." ”

Eric was a little confused: "Huh?"

"Last time, it was in London, and a few days after I came home, my aunt came running over out of the blue and asked me something about you. ”

Eric realized that he should have given the laptop to Olivia the day he handed it over, and said, "Did she say something was wrong?"

"Aunt didn't say that," Caroline shook her head, "she just told me she would come over next week." ”

Eric thought about it, a little confused, and could only nod and say, "I know." ”