Chapter 674

On the issue of the world, both Panasonic and Seagram have a very urgent tendency to trade, and in a few months, the two sides have reached a preliminary agreement, and only need to sort out some final debt information and personnel differences before reaching the final deal.

In the past few months, Michael Eisner has lobbied Edgar Bronfman, the helmsman at the helm of Seagram, to help him kick Michael Ovitz out of the world, and has not hesitated to play up the misconduct of Michael Ovitz during his tenure as president of the globe.

Michael Ovitz was already accustomed to using CAA's account to meet his extravagant personal expenses when he was at CAA, CAA is a private partnership company, and does not need to pay attention to financial reporting issues like public companies, Michael Ovitz as the founder of CAA, he also has a very unique position in this brokerage company, so no one dares to question his extravagant behavior. But after becoming president of Universal, Michael Ovitz did not realize that he had moved from a private company to a senior executive of a large public company, and instead continued to live the way he lived at CAA, almost taking it for granted that the expenses of renovating a luxurious office or giving expensive gifts to meet Hollywood celebrities should be covered by Universal.

This led to the first point of conflict between him and Michael Eisner, who strongly disagreed with Michael Ovitz's somewhat freewheeling personal approach.

At the same time, Michael Ovitz's strong desire to control at CAA and Michael Eisner's strong personality also conflicted, which is also the source of the conflict between the two.

In the final analysis, the contradiction between the two still confirms the old saying. One mountain does not tolerate two tigers.

At the helm of Seagram. Edgar Bronfman certainly couldn't have been unaware of this. Listening to Michael Eisner's decision to start counting Michael Ovitz with the example of "The Little One" not long after his arrival, Edgar Bronfman also made up his mind to kick Michael Ovitz out of the world before the deal was made.

Of course, this was the result of Michael Eisner's lobbying, but as the head of a large conglomerate, Edgar Bronfman thought more about the stability of the company after Seagram's takeover of Universal, and he did not want to buy a film company with conflicting top management. Although he is an outsider to Hollywood, Edgar Bronfman also knows what it is. If a company wants to grow and grow, the stability of internal management is a must.

After Eisner finished speaking, Edgar Bronfman said, "Michael, I just want to know what it will cost to get Ovitz out of the world."

Michael Eisner blushed and coughed twice in embarrassment. If it weren't for the golden parachute agreement he personally pulled, it would have been easy to kick Michael Owitz out, and it would have been his mistake in the end, but Michael Eisner would certainly not admit it. What's more, this decision was made out of helplessness at that time, and he finally took full control of Universal in his hands. It's not like because of heart surgery, Panasonic intervened in the management changes of the world.

"According to the agreement signed, if Ovitz is asked to leave without a major decision-making error, Universal will need to compensate him with $50 million in cash and another $50 million worth of stock options," Michael Eisner said, glancing at Bronfman's face, immediately added. However, if Ovitz leaves voluntarily, the price for Universal will be much smaller, and I hear that Sony is currently in contact with Ovitz to become CEO of Columbia, and he should probably leave voluntarily. Of course, even if Ovitz is unwilling to leave voluntarily, we can take advantage of this transaction to add Ovitz's departure to the deal contract and let the Japanese bear the cost of his departure. ”

Edgar Bronfman listened to Michael Eisner, knocked on the armrest of his chair and pondered for a moment, and said: "In this way, you will sort out the information about Ovitz that you have said during this time, and I will submit those materials to the negotiation team of Panasonic in the afternoon as evidence that Ovitz is no longer suitable to be the president of the world, and officially include the terms of Ovitz's resignation in the negotiation conditions." ”

Michael Eisner's face flashed with joy, and he nodded, "I'll prepare." ”

……

At the end of 1994, Hollywood was once again unsettled, Columbia's internal management began to shake, Universal Pictures once again faced a change of ownership, and the already eye-catching Flower Pictures 'lived up to expectations' with the success of "Mission Impossible", like another firefly that began to shine.

Michael Ovitz put down the Hollywood Reporter in his hand, went through all the major Hollywood events in the recent period, and was disappointed to find that none of this had much to do with him.

It reminded him of a few years ago, when he was the head of CAA, not only turning his hands between the major studios, but also single-handedly leading two multibillion-dollar deals involving Sony's acquisition of Columbia and Panasonic's acquisition of Universal.

But now, despite his reluctance to admit it, Michael Ovitz finds that without CAA, he suddenly seems to have been reduced from a Hollywood trader to a pawn. In the twenty years he has run CAA, Michael Ovitz has accumulated a net worth of hundreds of millions, but for someone like him who has been at the top of Hollywood for a long time, losing power is definitely a hundred times more painful than losing money. Michael Ovitz knew very well that the moment he sold all his shares in CAA, it was unlikely that he would be able to return to the brokerage business. After his friendship with Michael Eisner broke down, there was no point in staying at the world, and Michael Ovitz had to start thinking about his next steps, but fortunately, the turmoil in Colombia gave him a chance to make a comeback.

As soon as Michael Ovitz got out of the car, Nobuyuki Idei had already greeted him with several entourage.

When Sony acquired Colombia a few years ago, Michael Ovitz had already dealt with Nobuyuki Idei, although he felt that Nobuyuki Idei was permeated with an unconcealable exhaustion and anxiety at this time. Michael Ovitz still hugged each other warmly.

There are obviously a lot more oriental faces coming in and out of the administrative building of Columbia Studios. Nobuyuki Idei brought Michael Ovitz into Peter Cooper's former luxurious office. However, neither Peter Cooper nor Jon Peters showed up.

After sitting down in the office and exchanging a brief pleasante, Nobuyuki Idei said bluntly: "Mr. Ovitz, you must already know that the current situation in Colombia is very bad, and Sony is very much in need of a manager who can reverse the current decline. ”

"In Hollywood, any studio has its ups and downs, and Colombia has decades of accumulation. With a big group like Sony behind it, it's definitely only a matter of time before it comes back to cheering up," says Michael Ovitz, "Of course, the premise of all this is that the studio needs a qualified manager." ”

Nobuyuki Idei nodded approvingly, and said, "So, Mr. Ovitz, since you accepted the invitation today, you must be very interested in the position of CEO of Colombia, can you first talk about how you plan to manage this company?"

Michael Ovitz thought for a moment. Said: "With all due respect, Mr. Idei. As a film company, there is only one thing that survives, and that is to be able to make great blockbuster films, and during my time at CAA, I successfully pitched dozens of film projects to Hollywood studios every year, and I believe that there are very few people in Hollywood as a whole who have more experience in running film projects than I do. ”

Although the three-legged situation of Hollywood agencies has greatly weakened the dominance of CAA, Michael Ovitz's achievements in CAA are still obvious to all, the reason why Nobuyuki Idei likes Michael Ovitz is mainly because of his achievements in CAA, listening to Michael Ovitz, Idei Shinyuki nodded slightly, and said: "Mr. Ovitz, in this case, Sony very welcomes you to take control of Colombia, I don't know what requirements you have in terms of annual salary?"

"I don't have a high demand for an annual salary, as long as I talk to ......" After a pause, Michael Ovitz realized that Nobuyuki Idei definitely didn't want to hear Peter Cooper's name, so he changed his tune: "As long as it is the same as the previous one, it will be fine, but I need to get the bonuses and dividends I deserve after the company's business situation improves." ”

Nobuyuki Idei was very satisfied with Michael Ovitz's conditions, and nodded repeatedly: "Of course, as long as Colombia's business situation can improve, you will definitely get the reward you deserve, so, is there anything else?"

"Yes, and most importantly, I don't want to be held back by external factors in the way I run my business, so I need to have absolute autonomy in Colombia," says Michael Ovitz. ”

When he heard the words 'self-management', Nobuyuki Idei's body was obviously trembling.

If it weren't for the fact that the ownership of the business was handed over to two bastards, Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Colombia would not have been where it is now. With the deepening of the financial audit of Colombia, Nobuyuki Idei has not had a good night's sleep at all in the last few days. After five years of profligacy and spoiling by Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Colombia's internal operations and financial situation have deteriorated to a shocking level, and in order to minimize losses and reduce the tax burden, Sony will have to take write-downs on Colombia's assets, according to statistics over this period of time, Sony will face an asset write-down of $2.1 billion, which will also mean a huge loss of $2.1 billion in Sony's annual financial report.

$2.1 billion!

In the half-century since its founding, Sony has not experienced such a large loss.

Nobuyuki Idei has not dared to send the bad news back to Sony headquarters until now, Chairman Akio Morita just experienced a stroke a few years ago, Nobuyuki Idei is very worried that he will suddenly hear this bad news, whether Akio Morita will have something good.

Now, hearing the term 'self-management rights' from Michael Ovitz again, Nobuyuki Idei even had a chilling feeling, shook his head again and again, and said: "Mr. Ovitz, we can discuss other conditions, but please don't mention the matter of self-management rights again." As you can see, Sony has had enough of its own rights, and we're certainly not going to leave Colombia to a single manager. ”

Michael Ovitz said: "Mr. Idei, you should understand that Peter Cooper and I are different, and to be honest, I still don't understand why Sony hired these two incompetent guys in the first place. I am confident enough to run Colombia well, but I need to be given enough power and trust. If Sony loses full trust in Colombia's successor because of the Peter Cooper affair, I'm sure Colombia will have a hard time recovering. Hollywood is different from other industries, what Hollywood film companies need is a paternalistic management style, not the so-called modern corporate management model, you look at the management structure of the seven major film companies, you know that I am not lying. Sony wasn't wrong with Peter Cooper's decentralization, the biggest mistake was that you chose the wrong person. ”

A hesitant look appeared on Nobuyuki Idei's face, he knew that Michael Ovitz's opinion was not wrong, but Sony had just been bitten hard by two 'poisonous snakes', and it was impossible not to be afraid of the well rope.

"Well, it's dinner time, so why don't you ......" Nobuyuki Idei was just about to invite Michael Ovitz to dinner and continue the conversation when an assistant knocked on the open door and walked over to the two who were talking.

"President, I think you need to take a look at this," the assistant said, giving Michael Ovitz a strange look as he handed a fax document to Nobuyuki Idei.

Nobuyuki Idei opened the folder curiously, he knew that the assistant would not break into this meeting for no reason, and the document must contain extremely important information.

After reading a few pages in a hurry, Nobuyuki Idei raised his head and asked the assistant who was still waiting beside him, "Where did the documents come from, and this information...... Is it accurate?"

"This document came out after the trade negotiations between Panasonic and Seagram today, and now ......" The assistant glanced at Michael Ovitz again, and there seemed to be a little schadenfreude in his eyes: "Now...... It's rumored all over Hollywood. ”

Nobuyuki Idei nodded slightly, waved his hand to let the assistant out, read the document in his hand carefully, his brows furrowed more and more, and then sighed softly, and handed the document to Michael Ovitz, who was already showing an uneasy look: "Mr. Ovitz, let's talk about the cooperation between us later, I think you should need to deal with this matter now." ”

Michael Ovitz took the document, and after only a few pages, his face changed dramatically, and he stood up abruptly, and said to Idei: "Mr. Idei, I'm sorry, I think I need to leave." ”

Hurried out of the office, Michael Ovitz got into his car trembling slightly, and after the driver drove, he opened the document again. His expression became more and more angry, and the document in his hand listed a lot of 'evidence' that he was not suitable to be the president of the world.

But in Michael Ovitz's view, the document was a complete attempt to ruin his career in Hollywood.

With just the accusation that $2 million was spent on office renovations, Michael Ovitz sensed that his hopes of working with Sony were slim. But Michael Ovitz feels he has what it takes to enjoy it.

Subsequently, poaching from other record companies to expand the Universal recording business, increasing investment in the television department, and inviting A-list superstars to cooperate with Universal, all of his suggestions have become evidence of his 'great success' from those who concocted these materials.

Although the friendship has broken down, Michael Owitz still did not expect Michael Eisner to take such radical measures against him in order to squeeze himself out of the globe.

I'm already planning to leave on my own initiative, why do you still do this to me.

Why should it be!

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, Michael Ovitz picked up the mobile phone next to him, and dialed Michael Eisner's mobile phone with a trembling voice.

As soon as he connected, Michael Ovitz gritted his teeth and yelled: "Okay, your goal has been achieved, I tell you, Michael, you don't want to drive me out of Universal, I will use an iron chain to tie myself firmly to my desk at Universal." (To be continued.) )