The atmosphere of a rainy day always evokes the deepest laziness in people's hearts, and just after nine o'clock in the morning, Eric was about to give himself a day off, and the phone rang sharply.

The helicopter landed on the rooftop tarmac of the Firefly headquarters building, Eric got off the helicopter, Alan greeted him with an umbrella, and the two trotted into the elevator room, and Alan said: "At nine o'clock, Summer-Ray Rockton held a press conference at the Sunset Tower Hotel, saying that Viacom would participate in the bid for Disney. Almost at the same time, Michael Eisner also issued a statement that Disney would prefer to cooperate with Viacom over Firefly, stimulated by the news, and after the stock market opened today, Disney's stock price rose sharply by 6% in half an hour. ”

Eric listened silently to Allen's introduction, the elevator door opened, and the two walked into Firefly's conference room together, at this time the conference room was already full of people, Firefly's main executives, several directors of Firefly Investment Company and the head of Morgan Stanley's acquisition team sat around the oval desk, talking in twos and threes, seeing Eric appear, the buzzing sound of the conference room stopped, and everyone got up and looked at Eric.

"Everyone sit down," Eric waved his hand and walked to his seat in three or two steps, and Bernie Sanders, the head of the Morgan Stanley team sitting on his left, expertly handed over a copy of the paper: "Eric, you take a look at the information first, and we'll talk about it later." ”

Eric nodded, and opened the blue text folder, and the words 'White Knight No. 1' were printed on the cover.

As for the possible problems of this acquisition, Eric returned to Los Angeles after filming "Tornado". Quite meticulous preparations were made. Therefore, I was not confused when I saw the term 'white knight'.

'White Knight' is a technical term for an anti-takeover strategy between companies. A company that initiates a hostile takeover of a target company is often referred to as a 'black knight', and other acquirers that suddenly appear during the hostile takeover process are called 'white knights', and the 'white knights' are usually approved by the shareholders or management of the target company.

It can be seen from Michael Eisner's response after Lei Shidong's statement that Viacom's acquisition has been supported by Disney management, at least the Disney forces represented by Michael Eisner, so Viacom can be called a white knight.

Disney's sluggish performance for two consecutive years has made many people see a great opportunity to buy Disney. Even before the announcement of the acquisition, Firefly realized that the acquisition was unlikely to go without competitors. And there won't be just one.

Looking at the information in his hand, Eric also secretly admired the value for money of the Morgan Stanley team, and less than an hour after Lei Shidong released the bidding announcement, the Morgan Stanley team had already sorted out a detailed information of more than 30 pages.

Viacom Group currently has a market value of about $20 billion, mainly engaged in TV program production, cable television networks, radio radio stations and other businesses, the most famous of which is the famous MTV music television network, including Madonna, many famous singers have become famous with MTV's platform.

Lei Shidong, who is at the helm of Viacom, in addition to controlling the Viacom Group, also runs a national entertainment company with a large theater chain and a personal net worth of $4 billion.

Lei Shidong runs Viacom Media Group, which has always adhered to the concept of 'content is king', and the idea of acquiring a film company has been around for a long time. In the mid-80s, Lei Shidong competed with John Kruger of Metropolitan Media for Orion Pictures, which was thriving at the time. Because of the disadvantage of funds, he finally failed to quit. In addition, Lei Shidong also invested in the stocks of several major film companies such as Warner and Columbia.

It can be seen from this that Lei Shidong's sudden announcement of the acquisition of Disney Studios today is definitely not a whim.

After reading the information in their hands, everyone quickly discussed relevant countermeasures, compared to the Viacom Group with a market value of 20 billion US dollars, Firefly may be very weak, but the biggest advantage in Eric's hands is that he has up to 8 billion US dollars in cash.

When he took over the acquisition, because he didn't know the chips in Eric's hands, Bernie Sanders brought a promise from Morgan Stanley's top management that Morgan Stanley could provide Firefly with $2 billion in financing, and if Firefly was willing to accept Wall Street capital as a shareholder, this financing figure could be increased. So in total, the total amount of funds available to Eric is more than $10 billion.

But even if it is a hostile takeover, of course, the less money it spends, the better, otherwise Eric would not have to spend so much money to hire Morgan Stanley's acquisition team, and directly quote a price that Disney shareholders would not refuse anyway.

For Eric, the bottom line of the acquisition of Disney is around $6 billion, and the remaining $2 billion will be used to pay off Disney's debts, so that Disney can be completely in his hands.

"Viacom only announced its intention to acquire today, which shows that they are not ready, which is a big advantage for us. Viacom's cash flow is not very good, and it will take at least three months to complete the financing without preparation, which is the best time for us. ”

"Although Viacom's Lei Shidong is very good at financing, he is not without weaknesses, and it is said that Lei Shidong has a very bad relationship with his wife and may divorce at any time. If Lei Shidong's wife suddenly files for divorce during the acquisition process, Lei Shidong may lose the control of Viacom because of the loss of half of the property, which will hit the confidence of investors. ”

"We can't pin our hopes on this kind of thing, and the key is to seize the three months, but if Mr. Williams doesn't give up on the full acquisition strategy, Disney shareholders certainly won't mind waiting a while. ”

"I think so, if we only get a controlling stake of 51 percent, we can easily complete the acquisition with no more than $2.5 billion, and Disney shareholders will be very cooperative. ”

Seeing that everyone had turned the conversation to changing the acquisition strategy, Eric said helplessly: "I'm sorry, everyone. Let me reiterate one last time. The strategy of wholly buying Disney will definitely not change. I don't want to save $1 billion in expenses for the time being, and I have to pay dividends to other shareholders every year in the future. ”

Everyone looked at Eric with some strange eyes, although Hollywood's film and television industry is developing very rapidly, but so far, the annual profits of several major film companies will not exceed $1 billion when they are at their best.

Listening to Eric's tone, he seems confident that he can run Disney into a behemoth with an annual profit of more than $2 billion.

The development of the entertainment industry is very elusive, like in the forties and fifties. When big studios were booming, a single Paramount Act plunged Hollywood into a winter that lasted for more than a decade. finally recovered and found a suitable way to operate, but it ushered in the impact of the TV industry. Immediately afterwards, the launch of the home video recorder made Hollywood, which was facing concerns about piracy, like a big enemy, and it also fought a lawsuit with Japan's Sony for more than a decade.

Although Hollywood has begun to recover again in the last decade, no one knows what will happen next, and in case of repeated drastic industry changes, Hollywood is likely to fall into a cold winter again.

Looking at everyone's gaze, Eric could roughly guess what these people were thinking. Everyone has their own inherent mindset. What's more, the people here are all elites in various industries, and these people are not people who can be swayed by a few words. So Eric didn't mean to explain, but said in an unquestionable tone: "So, let's discuss the strategy of the wholly-owned acquisition, and don't mention the topic of holding again, OK?"

Although he couldn't understand why the young man was so insistent, Bernie Sanders was the first to nod his head in agreement, and the people on the Firefly's side maintained absolute support for Eric.

The meeting continued.

Although some countermeasures were discussed, then, as Viacom announced that it would join the competition, the negotiations between the Firefly acquisition team and Disney reached an impasse, and there was no progress for the following month.

Time slowly entered September, and the box office of Firefly's two summer movies, "Toy Story" and "Terminator 2", both approached 200 million US dollars, and the two movies also began to land in overseas markets one after another, and both achieved very bright results.

Although there is no movie release in the off-season after September like the Big Seven, the third season of "Friends" in the fall, the second season of "The X-Files" and the variety show "Who Will Be a Millionaire" have been re-launched on Fox TV.

"Friends" has become Fox's absolute trump card program, with ratings steadily remaining at more than 20 million people, while "The X-Files" and "Who Will Become a Millionaire" are not as dazzling as "Friends", but according to the ratings of the three programs, only Fox TV's advertising share is more than $150 million per season, and the subsequent profits from selling broadcast rights to hundreds of second- and third-tier small TV stations in the United States are even higher.

However, after several programs were launched on Fox TV in September, it stimulated the rise in the stock price of Disney Studios, which made Eric a little crying and laughing, but he was helpless.

Because of the stalemate between the acquisition team and Disney, Eric also began to shift most of his energy to Firefly's film and television production.

On the set of "The X-Files" in the northern Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles, Eric had lunch with the crew and was about to leave. It was a late autumn September afternoon, and Famick Jensen was wearing a gray suit for acting, with his pocket in his pocket, and walking towards the parking lot with Eric.

"I just listened to you guys chatting, do you really plan to let us go to Canada to shoot next season?" asked the tall girl when she was about to get to the parking lot.

"They said that the cost of filming in Canada could be reduced by more than 30 percent," Eric said, looking at Mick Jensen: "If you don't want to, then I'll veto the mention and stay in Los Angeles." ”

"I don't want to be so hated, the cost of 30% is almost 10 million. ”

Eric stopped and put his arm around the girl: "For you, it doesn't matter if you spend an extra 100 million." ”

Famick Jensen reached out to support Eric's chest and teased, "Have you told a lot of women about that?"

Eric smiled and didn't speak, but his hand was forced, and Famick Jensen hurriedly begged for mercy: "Don't, this is a costume, it's crumpled and you have to clean it up later." ”

Eric didn't let go, and leaned into Famick Jensen's ear and said, "Go to me tonight, I just asked the director, you guys will rest tomorrow." ”

Farmic Jensen hummed softly, and Eric let go of her, and the two walked side by side to the parking lot, where Eric got into his car, waved to the girl, and told the driver to drive.

It took more than an hour for the car to reach its destination again, the filming site of "Dumb and Dumb" near Culver City.

Because before "Dumb and Agua", the three women's TG film company also produced a "Crazy Flower of the End", so the progress of this movie is slower than Nicole's "Spicy Hand Police Flower", and it is expected that the film will be closed in September, and "Spicy Hand Police Flower" has been filmed in August, and post-production has now begun.

In addition to the finale of "Ghost Street" released on Halloween, Firefly mainly focuses on two comedy works, "Dumb and Dumb" and "Spicy Police Flower". In addition to these two movies, Eric also has something to do with "Home Alone 3", which was handed over to Fox, and "Dances with Wolves", which was cut off from Orion last year.

Fox's New Year's blockbuster "Home Alone 3" and "Dances with Wolves" were screened according to the standard screening model of Olympic films, Eric did not take the four-hour art film too seriously at the box office, and he hoped that "Dances with Wolves" would squeeze out the Best Picture nomination for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast".

But there seem to be some other problems, "The Silence of the Lambs" in the original time and space was released this year, and now it is equivalent to a reversal of "Dances with Wolves".

Eric was leaning back in his chair and pondering these things, when he saw Drew running up, knocking on the glass window of his car, and pulling the car door, "Eric, why are you here?"

"I just had time today, so I'll come and have a look," Eric said with a smile as he looked at Drew.

Perhaps because of being on the set, Xiao Nizi was dressed very neatly, wearing a pink baseball cap on her head, a white T-shirt and jeans, and a pair of small sneakers on her feet.

Drew pulled Eric out of the car and said, "There happened to be a scene that was filmed several times, maybe you can help watch it." (To be continued......)