Microsoft has never lacked ambitions to break new ground.

In addition to the operating system, the former Microsoft once had the ambition to dabble in the MSN portal business, the Xbox console business, the Bing search engine business, and so on.

It's just that with the powerful 'hindsight' that is always slower than others'.

None of these projects were successful.

The online service with MSN as the core has lost $13 billion before and after, and finally it has failed; the Xbox game console has lost 3 billion in ten years, barely burning out the game ecological chain, but catching up with the pace of PS is far away; the Bing search engine has lost tens of billions of dollars cumulatively, and it has no sense of existence in front of the powerful Google. Not to mention other failures in the mobile phone business, tablet business and mobile social networking applications, and even, when the portal was about to decline, Microsoft once tried to buy Yahoo for a huge $46 billion without seeing the situation, but luckily ran into another guy who was even more unclear about the situation and rejected the deal, which was the only way to escape.

At this time, at the Vanity Fair party, Eric listened to his classmates talking half-secretly about Microsoft's intention to enter Hollywood, but he only had a little excitement in his heart.

However, on the surface, Eric frowned slightly, and pretended to be sincere and advised: "Bill, Microsoft's business center should be in IT, I don't think it's a good choice for you to make movies." ”

"How do you know if you don't try," Bill Gates said confidently, "What's more, isn't Firefly also across the two major industries of IT and media?"

Eric knew that the fireflies mentioned by the gate classmate at this time meant the entire firefly business empire, shook his head, and said: "This is not the same, the firefly group and the firefly investment have always been distinct. ”

Bill Gates smiled and took a sip of champagne from the glass in front of him, he didn't believe Eric's words.

The entry into Hollywood is definitely not the result of Microsoft's whims, it is the result of a detailed analysis of the development trajectories of several major high-tech companies under Firefly Investment.

Yahoo, for example, would never have grown so rapidly without the unsparing support of the entire Firefly Group in terms of content and marketing resources, and Yahoo's brand placement in the first part of "Breaking Bad" has long been a successful marketing case for many companies to emulate.

According to statistics, Firefly invests in brands such as Yahoo, AOL, Cisco and Nokia located overseas, not counting obvious hard advertisements, these brands are mentioned more than 300 times a month in Firefly's vast network of media channels. This kind of subtle marketing effect that allows people to produce these brands and even an integral part of their lives is the most terrifying.

On the other hand, although Jeff Locke, one of the three giants of Yahoo's management, was hired by Microsoft last year to be in charge of the portal operation business, Microsoft's MSN portal business has improved after a year of development, but the shortcomings of MSN's lack of content have also quickly become apparent. In this regard, the Firefly Group and several major allies will definitely not provide any content support to Microsoft, although it can also be with Time Warner and other groups, but it will eventually be controlled by others, taking advantage of the great opportunity of Microsoft's unification of the operating system, taking advantage of the situation to enter Hollywood, and get involved in the media industry, it has become a good choice.

The investment in Spielberg-led studios is only the first step for Microsoft to step into the media industry.

Since Jeff Locke left Yahoo last year, there has been a faint rift between the two sides, and at this time it is only superficially peaceful.

After a few polite conversations, Bill Gates got up and walked away.

Eric asks the waiter to refill himself with a drink, and sits at the bar to consider the possible consequences of Microsoft's entry into Hollywood. Although he is not optimistic about the prospect of Microsoft's involvement in the media industry, Eric will not despise the other party, with Microsoft's strength, if Bill Gates is determined to enter the media industry, it will definitely affect his future layout.

With the current situation in the media industry, in addition to Microsoft's cooperation with Spielberg and others to set up a new big studio, there are two other potentially unstable targets to swallow, namely Columbia, which is in the hands of Sony, and CBS, one of the four major public television stations.

Eric has been secretly following the "Godzilla" project being produced by Sony Pictures, although the film has not officially started filming, but the image of Godzilla that has been determined is very similar to a certain weak chicken Tyrannosaurus Rex in the previous life, from this point of view, this version of "Godzilla" still goes on the old path. If Godzilla fails next year, as it did in previous lives, Sony's confidence in continuing to run Columbia will be hit again, and it will also be a great opportunity for someone else to take over Columbia Pictures.

This opportunity Eric was originally intended to be reserved for MGM, but with the addition of Microsoft to disrupt the situation, the possibility that the other party will intervene at that time cannot be ruled out.

Another unstable target is CBS, after the failure of the bid with Viacom for Paramount, Barry Diller launched another acquisition of CBS TV last year, but when Barry Diller almost negotiated the terms of the acquisition with CBS management and major shareholders, Comcast, which was responsible for financing the acquisition, abruptly halted the project, causing Barry Diller's return to the media industry to be frustrated again, and CBS returned to the state of being for sale again.

Obviously, after partnering with Spielberg and others to set up a big studio, Columbia Pictures and CBS will undoubtedly be the best targets if Microsoft wants to go further, and when the time comes, the two sides will inevitably go toe-to-toe again.

As Eric pondered what to do, Elizabeth and Julia walked over arm in arm, and the two women were wearing the same style of suspender dresses, but the color was one black and one white, which had a strange feeling of a couple's outfit.

Walking up to Eric, Julia seemed to see her master's kitten, her eyes watery and about to rub her beside Eric, but Elizabeth grabbed her: "Hey, you're my girlfriend now, I don't have a lot of face to other men like this." ”

Eric smiled helplessly, Elizabeth is now completely half-truthful and half-truthed to the outside world, although everyone knows that she has an ambiguous relationship with her sister, Elizabeth often blatantly goes out with Julia, and also completely pulls Julia to Fox, at this time is filming "Shakespeare's Love History" that Miramax is responsible for.

For this matter, Murdoch also called Eric to ask what was going on, and Eric didn't know what to say, so he could only be perfunctory. Murdoch is also worried, not just for this daughter, because, the old man's eldest son Lachlan also has a tendency to have an unknown sexual orientation, and he is twenty-five years old but he doesn't even have a girlfriend, but likes to hang out with a group of 'beautiful' models, well, it is a male model, which is actually one of the reasons why Lachlan Murdoch was sent back to his hometown in Australia by the old Murdoch last year

Patting himself on his left, Eric said to Julia, "Ignore her, come and sit here." ”

Julia shook off Elizabeth and sat down to Eric's left, who glared at the two of them before sitting down to Eric's right.

Eric beckoned the waiter to prepare drinks for the two girls, but Julia next to him leaned over without any scruples, waved his left hand at Eric, and said, "Eric, look, is it beautiful?"

Eric glanced at it, it was the red heart 4 rose gold ring, he didn't expect Julia to bring it out publicly, you know, the ring has the 'Williams' emblem tattooed on it.

Eric had people make a whole set according to the number of playing cards, but at this time there were only Virginia and Joanna, Julia and Elizabeth, Drew, and Nicole and Famick, these seven women were still with Eric, and the other women got along for a while, or Eric felt bored and took the initiative to let go, or the relationship naturally cooled, and they all left, and the remaining thirty-seven rings were quietly lying in the safe of the Sharp Horn Manor.

After settling down, less reckless and frivolous in the first few years, Eric would now rather give a woman a bank card than take out the ring easily, in the past few years, the woman who has this set of rings is still only seven.

Grabbing Julia's little hand and admiring it for a moment, Eric smiled and nodded, "It's beautiful," and asked Elizabeth beside him, "What about yours?"

Elizabeth raised her hand and gestured, then said, "Now this is my couple ring with Julia, it has nothing to do with you." Hehe, Demi Moore just asked me where I bought it. ”

Eric wondered, "Demi Moore?"

Elizabeth thought Eric didn't know who Demi Moore was, and explained, "Bruce Willis's wife, a very clever woman. ”

"Oh," Eric replied indifferently, changing the subject, and asked, "Haven't you been in charge of the preparation of Star Wars Prequel lately, how is it going?"

The news of the prequel to "Star Wars" has never been broken, and as the memory of a generation of Americans, almost every news of the film can cause heated discussions. Although Eric is not very interested in the Star Wars series, he is also affected by countless news.

Hearing Eric mention this, Elizabeth's face immediately became depressed, and Whoopi said: "Don't mention it, George Lucas suddenly told us last week that the start of filming of the film may be delayed for another half a year, and he also revealed that he wants to renegotiate the distribution contract. ”

Almost immediately, Eric thought of the gate classmate who had just left, and the timing was too coincidental.

"Do you know what the reason is?"

Elizabeth turned her head and looked around the hall for a moment, probably not finding a figure, turned around, and said, "Wasn't you just chatting with Bill Gates, it's him." ”

"So, Spielberg wants to bring George Lucas closer to the upcoming studio?"

Elizabeth also obviously heard the news, maybe even more than Eric, and nodded: "yes, I guess their target should be Industrial Light & Magic, because the film was originally going to work with the digital field in terms of special effects, and I also brought another producer to talk to Stan, but last week, when Lucas told me that the film might be delayed, he also canceled his intention to work with the digital field." ”

Eric took a sip of his wine and frowned slightly.

Although Industrial Light & Magic has been far removed from the digital field in recent years, this special effects studio has a deep special effects background after all, and it has been thrown aside by the digital field over the years, mainly because mainstream special effects blockbusters have chosen the digital field for special effects production, and there are not enough projects for technology research and development and accumulation, and it is almost inevitable that Industrial Light & Magic will be put aside.

But just as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy supported Weta Digital, if the special effects of the "Star Wars Prequel" trilogy were all completed by Industrial Light and Magic alone, although the production process would definitely be bumpy, and the cost would definitely be higher, but with the experience of the three special effects blockbusters, the special effects level of Industrial Light and Magic will soon catch up, which is not a good thing for the digital field.

What's even more frustrating is that this kind of thing is still difficult to stop. Because with the increasing demand for special effects in Hollywood movies, no matter how large the digital field is, it is impossible to swallow all the special effects business.

Without Katzenberg's involvement, Spielberg, David Geffen and George Lucas, combined with Microsoft's strong technical and financial backing, made the new studio a force to be reckoned with. It seems that the fireflies still have to be mentally coped.

"Eric, how is the situation of "Titanic", I heard that it has just been completed recently, and the production cost has reached 120 million US dollars?" Elizabeth also asked about the firefly's side, with concern in her tone, and habitually with a little schadenfreude.

"Probably, the total cost of completing the post-production will be 200 million US dollars," Eric shrugged, fortunately, after getting Eric's promise of full financial support, Cameron finally did not delay this time, and the filming of the film has been completely completed in the recent period, and post-production has begun rapidly.

"$200 million, tsk, plus the cost of publicity and distribution in the later stage, it will take at least $700 million at the global box office to pay back," Elizabeth shook her head and said, "Cameron's movie box office is best $500 million or 600 million." ”

"yes, I'm worried too," Eric smiled and looked at Elizabeth, "Why don't Fox help me share some of the costs, our production budget was originally 150 million, and you give me another 50 million." ”

Elizabeth was stunned for a moment, looked at Eric, and saw that the man's expression was a little strange, both a little joking, but also serious.

After thinking about it, she said, "I, well, if you really need it, of course I don't mind investing." Still, you know, my dad wouldn't agree. “

Eric had a bit of a bad taste in his heart, and said, "So, you can talk to your father about this tomorrow to see if he is willing." ”

"My dad wouldn't want to, the chances of this project being profitable are almost zero," Elizabeth said, feeling that Eric was smiling a little badly, and subconsciously hit him, "If you want to talk to him yourself." (To be continued.) )