In the following two weeks, Firefly, with the assistance of Morgan Stanley's acquisition team, completed the share repurchase of Disney, and on February 5, 1992, Disney officially announced its privatization and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Firefly Pictures.

During this time, Universal Pictures, which is controlled by Japan's Panasonic consortium, signed an agreement with Michael Eisner, who had just left Disney, appointing Michael Eisner as CEO of Universal Pictures, and Sid Hinberg, the former head of Universal Pictures, was fired.

Sid Sheinberg has been in control of Universal Pictures for nearly two decades, and has a deep influence in Universal Pictures, and has discovered a large number of famous filmmakers such as Spielberg. Japan's Panasonic consortium, like Sony, was afraid of the backlash of the American public, and in the two years after the completion of the acquisition in 1990, the decentralization process was even greater than Sony's to Columbia, and Panasonic basically did not participate in any decisions of Universal Pictures.

Although Sid Sheinberg is not like Peter Cooper of Columbia, who only cares about his own profligacy and has no intention of running a film company, as a businessman, Universal Pictures' performance in the past two years has not only not improved, but has shown signs of a sharp decline, while Sid Sheinberg himself has made a lot of profits from Universal's resources.

Panasonic executives realized that the acquisition of Universal Pictures would be their biggest failure, and in order to prevent the situation from worsening, they seized the good opportunity of Michael Eisner's departure from Disney and began to drastically adjust Universal's management.

Because of Sid Hinberg's deep-rooted influence, Michael Eisner's ascension to the post was not an easy one.

"Within a week of Michael Eisner's tenure, 14 people were laid off at Universal Pictures' top management. Eric shoved a newspaper in front of Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had just walked into the office.

Anyone who knows Katzenberg. It is known that he is a very arrogant person. But at this time, Katzenberg sat across from Eric with a smile on his face, at least with a respectful look on the surface.

Taking the newspaper handed over by Eric and quickly browsing the news on the side, Katzenberg said: "This is a must, many high-level executives around the world have followed Sid Szynberg's descendants for more than ten years, if Michael doesn't do this, then it won't take half a year, how he goes to the world, how to leave." And Panasonic had to honestly invite Sid Schinberg back. ”

Eric held a pen in his hand, wrote and drew on the manuscript paper in front of him casually, and asked casually: "Disney now has a lot of descendants promoted by Michael, what do you think I should do?"

Although Eric's question was very casual, but Katzenberg cheered up, for more than half a month, Disney's CEO position has been vacant, and many people are speculating who the next Disney CEO will be, rumors are spreading, and it is said that Eric will personally serve as Disney's CEO. It is said that he will be succeeded by current Disney President Frank Wells, and there are even rumors that the Fireflies will appoint Walt Disney's nephew Roy Disney as the new CEO.

But. Katzenberg got some hints from Barry Diller early on, and he had been quietly preparing for the process, not jumping up and down like some people do.

The biggest problem Disney is currently facing is the 'golden parachute' plan with a total compensation of up to $500 million from Disney's management at the beginning of the acquisition, which means that within two years, Firefly is unlikely to make much changes to Disney's top management.

"Eric, Disney and the situation of Universal is very different, Universal has been run by Sid Hinberg for 20 years, it is completely an iron bucket, and Sid Hinberg was also the majority shareholder of Universal, Panasonic moved Sid Hinberg, which is equivalent to moving the interests of many people around the world. But Disney is different, Michael did personally promote a lot of people, but Disney is not his alone, plus all Michael's focus is now on the world, and he will not give too much experience to Disney to make trouble. As long as we follow the established development track of Disney, there will be no problems, and I think even if some people can't help but want to make trouble, one or two people can still get the severance compensation Firefly, right?"

Eric looked at Katzenberg and smiled and asked, "You got it?"

Katzenberg was slightly stunned, nodded slightly embarrassed, and said, "Barry gave me some hints." ”

"In that case, a lot of things can be said," Eric put down the pen he had been playing with, leaned back in his chair and smiled, "The reason why I'm talking to you until now is because I've been a little undecided, and I don't know if handing over Disney to you will turn into a disaster." ”

Katzenberg shook his head confidently, "I promise never." ”

"Jeffrey, you know, that promise doesn't work, there's nothing wrong with your personal ability to work, and it's an absolute miracle in Hollywood that you've made 9 of the 11 films you've hosted over the years. And Barry personally recommended you to me, but, well, do you know what your problem is?"

Katzenberg's lips moved, and Eric didn't force him to say it himself, continuing: "I've heard that on more than one occasion you forced the staff of the studio to hold a meeting at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, and as a result, many people showed up in their pajamas in protest. And you have a bad relationship with Roy Disney of the Disney family. If you're just in charge of the department, it doesn't make a big difference, but if you're the CEO of Disney, it's hard for me to imagine the terrible consequences if all the employees don't like your style of doing things?"

"I can change it, Eric, give me three months," Katzenberg said without hesitation.

Eric raised an eyebrow and asked, "Three months?"

Katzenberg nodded again: "It only takes three months, and if I can't change it in three months, then I'll get out of here." ”

Eric looked at Katzenberg's expression, and his heart was almost relieved, for a person with extremely strong self-control. Since such a thing was said. Then it may not take three months. Katzenberg can make a difference.

Eric stretched out his hand and said with three fingers: "Okay, it's only three months, but I still have to remind you that in addition to Michael's 30 million severance compensation, about the golden parachute agreement, Firefly will not pay a penny, which can be regarded as a test for you, you need to live in peace with the old man left by Michael." And you must not affect Disney's business, otherwise you will fail. ”

Katzenberg hesitated for a moment, but nodded quickly.

Eric smiled with satisfaction and said, "Regarding your treatment, we'll talk about it later, now, you can tell me what you think, since Barry has already revealed the news to you, I think you must have made relevant preparations, right?"

Katzenberg said succinctly, "I want Pixar." ”

After the success of Toy Story, almost every Hollywood studio saw the potential of 3D animated films. Since the release of "Toy Story", Pixar Studios has faced several waves of poaching frenzy. Even John Lasseter had been in contact with him, but thanks to Eric's proper measures, Pixar was not broken.

Before "Toy Story", animated films had always been monopolized by Disney, and since Disney was bought by Fireflies, in order to maintain its original monopoly position, it is normal for Katzenberg to put forward this condition now.

Eric said: "You don't need to, starting from the next animated movie, all of Pixar's works will be handed over to Disney for distribution, and at the same time, the brand management and derivative development of Pixar animation will be handled by Disney." ”

"Eric, I've read some Pixar materials, don't you think Pixar's efficiency is too low?"

"One animated film in two years is indeed a bit low, but Pixar takes the boutique route, and as the president of Disney Studios, you should know that animated films can't be fast even if you want to. ”

"But at least one animated movie a year should be no problem, right, computer-made zuò is much faster than manual?"

Eric remembered that in the original time and space, the DreamWorks Animation founded by Katzenberg was famous for its high output, but except for "Shrek", DreamWorks Animation did not produce a few high-quality films, which may be the result of too much attention to quantity.

"Jeffrey, isn't Disney's animation studio also making Zuò animation, the two studios combined, it can also be said that it is an average of one movie per year, by the way, speaking of Disney's animation studio, you must also see the potential of computer animation, so I like to use three years of transition time to digitize all the original hand-drawn methods of Disney animation studio. ”

"You're saying it's going all out to 3D animation, but now Disney has 600 hand-drawn animators, and if it is reformed, these people will be ......."

Eric shrugged: "Jeffrey, if any industry can't follow the trend, it can only face elimination, I give three years, it's already very generous, they have enough time to get trained, if they still can't adapt in the end, then I can only say regret." ”

In the original time and space, the success of "Toy Story" directly announced the decline of Disney's hand-drawn animation, except for the subsequent "The Lion King", Disney has never appeared in a 2D hand-drawn animated film that has reached the box office charts.

"Well, I'll arrange that," Katzenberg nodded in agreement.

After this conversation, Eric quickly announced the appointment of Katzenberg, and although the appointment was disgruntled by many, Disney was generally calm compared to the hardships of Michael Eisner's trip to the world.

Many people are worried that Katzenberg will follow his original business style after taking over as Disney CEO, and even prepare to resign in the face of high pressure, but within a week, many people find that Katzenberg's management style has changed a lot, and he is no longer so unscrupulous and does his own thing, and even says 'thank you', which is a big surprise. Because Katzenberg never said 'thank you' to people at work, to explain it in his own words, it was not that he was not rude, but he was unwilling to waste this time.

After the appointment of a new CEO, Eric is finally a little easier, do not have to focus too much on Disney, although the acquisition has been preliminarily completed, however, the remaining affairs will take at least half a year to hand over and integrate, these things, is still the responsibility of the Morgan Stanley team, for this professional acquisition team, Eric is not only assured, but even a little covetous, but unfortunately Firefly Investment can not afford to raise such a team now.

"Not only can't we afford it, but we don't need it," Chris said as he ate dinner in the dining room at Sharp Corner Manor.

After completing the acquisition, Chris will also return to New York, and Eric has been specially practiced for Chris at Sharp Corner Manor, in addition to Chris, Chris's girlfriend Emily Brighton has also appeared on the scene for running errands in Los Angeles.

"I'm just saying that I can't afford it now, but I'll definitely need it sooner or later," Eric retorted.

Chris smiled: "Maybe, Eric, what are you going to do next, we only have less than $1.5 billion left, which is not enough to pay off the debts left by Disney, and besides, I don't ask you to pay off the debts." In the course of business operation, it is necessary to have appropriate liabilities. Compared to Firefly's current market value, $2 billion is equivalent to a debt ratio of about 25%, which is the lowest among the seven major Hollywood studios. ”

Eric thought for a while and said, "Actually, I also thought about it, since I can't pay off the debt, let's make an investment, hey, it's just a pity, we didn't take the opportunity to make a fortune after the collapse of the Soviet Union last year." ”

"Don't think about it, the Soviet Union is a piece of fat that we can't touch at all, this is a worldwide plunder, in order to prevent the possible attachment of the Soviet Union, behind this incident is the European and American governments are manipulating," Chris said, couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, took a sip of the red wine in front of him, and continued: "In just half a year, the ruble has depreciated 110,000 times, and the nearly 28 trillion dollars of wealth accumulated by the Soviet Union in the past 80 years have been taken away by people for a few hundred million dollars. ”

Jennifer Connelly, who had been sitting next to Eric and had been quietly acting like a lady, couldn't help but ask, "Hey, what are you talking about, why don't I understand?"

Chris looked at the Qingli beauty opposite, although his girlfriend was by his side, he couldn't help the instinct of a man to show off: "I'm talking about the largest collective robbery in human history." (To be continued......)