In the silence, Roger Elles, the director of "The Lion King", still asked a little unwillingly: "Mr. Williams, did you really say that you want to change a new owner for Disney's animation department?"

"It's not Disney's animation department," Eric accentuated the 'Disney' pronunciation, "To be exact, I'm going to sell the hand-drawn animation division as a whole, the Disney brand belongs to Fireflies, and no one can take it." ”

In the silence again, Peter Schneider suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis, if Eric didn't even care about the Disney animation department, then what was the point of what he and Roy Disney had done before, and more importantly, the two of them lost the support of the Disney animation department......

The worry in his heart gradually turned into fear, Peter Schneider suddenly stood up from his seat, pointed at Eric and shouted: "No, you won't, Eric Williams, you will never sell the Disney animation department, you just want to force us to make concessions, we will never give in, absolutely not." ”

Eric looked at Peter Schneider, who was a little hysterical, and said to the female assistant next to him, "Kelly, go and call the security guard in." ”

Kelly glanced at Peter Schneider and got up and walked out of the room.

After Kelly left, Eric said to Peter Schneider, "Either sit down and continue the meeting, or let me out, or I'll have the security guard throw you out." ”

Peter Schneider gritted his teeth in embarrassment, froze for a few seconds, and then sat down.

Contrast to Peter Schneider's gaffe. Roy Disney's heart was even more shocked. But. Roy Disney, who thinks he is accustomed to seeing storms and waves, understands that the more times like this, the more calm he must be, and he also thinks that Eric may just be bluffing to force the animation department to give in, and after thinking about it, Roy Disney asked: "Mr. Williams, do you think Disney can still be considered Disney without the animation department?"

Eric sighed suddenly, it had been so long. These people still haven't figured out what he's thinking: "Disney will always have an animation department, but it won't make animated films in a hand-drawn way anymore." Moreover, Disney will save several cartoon studios located in Canada, Australia, etc., and continue to provide TV animation for the Disney channel. It's just that Disney's animated films will fully shift to 3D digital production. ”

Roy Disney heard Eric calmly say the next plan, and his heart chuckled, but on the surface, he still calmly gestured to the dozen or so people in the conference room, and said, "So, you're going to take us." That is, more than 700 people in the hand-drawn animation department were all packaged and sold, hehe. Even if you really don't plan to keep the hand-drawn animation department, do you think we're going to let you sell it as a bargaining chip?"

Roy Disney's words were an immediate blow to the despondents, and all the animation department management looked at Eric with blazing eyes, as if Eric would immediately quit if he said something inappropriate, turning the animation department into a worthless shell.

Hand-drawn animation is very different from computer animation, which requires not only skilled digital animators, but also tools and technical support departments that contain a large number of technical patents, so it is not so easy for digital animators to change jobs. However, hand-drawn animation is not too high-tech industry in the final analysis, and an animator can participate in the production of hand-drawn animation after a few years of training, and even if he leaves the original company, hand-drawn animators can continue their careers without obstacles.

Of course, Eric knew this, looking at the more than ten pairs of eyes staring at him, Eric smiled, rubbed the folder on the desktop, and said: "You don't need to test each other anymore, the decision to eliminate Disney's hand-drawn animation department has been agreed by the three directors of the Firefly system, Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy and David West, so there will be no more surprises in this resolution now." ”

There was a chill in the conference room again, but in the end, no one was so angry that they slammed the door, not even Peter Schneider, who had just become angry, just glared at Eric.

Eric patiently waited for the crowd to be quiet again, and continued, "So, let's talk about the disadvantages of your voluntary resignation. You can all walk away and turn the animation department into an empty shell with no value, which won't do any damage to the fireflies at all. But then, let's make the most satisfying assumption, you find a new employer who fully agrees with the lucrative terms you proposed to Firefly, with an average monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan, a brand new work park, or something. So, this negotiation will take at least half a year, and after half a year, you still need to start everything from scratch, set up a new animation production department, start to do development planning, and find a suitable animation project, which will be another half a year. Then, the pre-planning of the animation project, everyone knows very well how long it will take, and it is very uncertain, perhaps, from the time you voluntarily left to the start of the production process of the first animation, it has been two years later, and the production time will take at least two years, then, your new animation department has come up with the first animated film, maybe it has been four years later. Needless to say, if you remember it well, you should remember exactly how long it took for Michael Eisner to revitalize the animation department to the release of The Little Mermaid, five years, and I also helped you shorten the time by one year. So, according to the terms of the salary that you proposed, the entire animation department would need to spend at least $100 million a year to stay afloat, which is $400 million in four years, enough to make five big-budget films. At that time, if the animated film you came up with did not achieve the amazing effect of "The Lion King", think about what the new owner would think after patiently waiting for four years and investing a lot of money, you should all know that "The Lion King" was an accident, and the average level of Disney's animation department should be "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast". So, 90 percent of them could be very, very disappointed, and then they're going to cut back on the animation department, and the budget will be reduced. The quality of animated films suffers. A vicious cycle is common. ”

Finished here. Eric paused, as if waiting for a reaction from the disgraced crowd in the room, but Eric was pretty sure they wouldn't have any more excited reactions, because all he had just said was true. In the original time and space, after Katzenberg left Disney to set up his own portal, he poached a group of people from Disney Animation to establish DreamWorks Animation, and it took just four years from the establishment of DreamWorks Animation to the release of the first "Prince of Egypt". And "Prince of Egypt" also did tepid at the box office, and it took another three full years for DreamWorks' second animated film, "Shrek", to be released. If it weren't for the lucky box office hit of "Shrek", DreamWorks Animation, which had only completed two animated films in seven years, would definitely have ended up shutting down.

After waiting for a while, Eric gently slapped his palm and said, "I'm sorry, forgive me for being like a talkative villain just now, oh no, my role today seems to be a talkative villain, but." I would also like to add that if you change jobs. It is a voluntary violation of labor contracts, and the year-end bonus that should have been generated because of the box office success of "The Lion King" is gone, and this year-end bonus should be equivalent to more than half a year's salary for most people. ”

Roger Ares, who was sitting near Eric, asked dryly, "Mr. Williams, can we know why you insisted on canceling the 2D animation?"

"Just as the steam loom replaces the artificial loom, and the electric loom replaces the steam loom, this is the inevitable trend of technological development. There are so many advantages to 3D animated films, of course, this can only be proven by time, and if you find out in a few years that I'm wrong, then you can laugh at me as much as you like. But now, I'm standing up for my own judgment, and I've given everyone enough time to change. But these things have made me realize that it's better for everyone to go their own way. ”

Roger Elles looked at the silent Roy Disney and Peter Schneider, sighed, and said nothing.

Of course, Eric didn't show the detailed information to these people, and seeing that no one asked anything, he continued: "Now, let's talk about the benefits of selling the animation department in a package, first of all, even if you leave, your share of the profits of The Lion King will still be distributed in your hands. Secondly, you can negotiate the treatment with the new owner in a unified manner, and I believe that the treatment you get will definitely be much better than if you go to negotiate separately. Again, you can take away a couple of 2D animation projects that the animation department has already prepared that are ready to go into production right away, and I'll see, oh, Pocahonta, Magnolia, and Tarzan, these are really great ideas. In addition, you can also take the sequel rights to the 2D animated films "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin", which will greatly reduce the time it takes you to produce results. ”

In a look of astonishment, Roger Elles asked in a tone of disbelief: "Mr. Williams, are you sure you're not joking again?"

If Eric's decision to sell Disney's animation division has already made everyone feel that he is abnormal, let them leave with the rights to "The Lion King", and suddenly give people the feeling that he has gone completely crazy.

Of course, Eric is not crazy, but explained very calmly: "Of course I'm not joking, but what you can take away is the very simple sequel production rights of the films "The Lion King", and your new employer only has the right to use these rights to make sequels and make profits through film distribution, and the cartoon images and peripheral development of films such as "The Lion King" still belong to Firefly. ”

Although "The Lion King" grossed more than $900 million worldwide, the sequel was still directly released on videotape.

However, Eric believes that if he gets the sequel production rights now, even if he does not have the development rights such as peripherals, under the stimulus of the global box office of "The Lion King" of 900 million US dollars, other film companies will definitely not hesitate to develop a sequel movie. At that time, Fireflies could still sell merchandise through the influence brought by these sequel movies.

With the current trend of "The Lion King" exploding at the global box office, Roger Elles can also understand the harshness and temptation of Eric's conditions, and at the same time, he has begun to think about the plot of the sequel to "The Lion King".

"So, last but not least, you can get 5% of the total transaction amount as a reward after the animation department is successfully packaged and sold, which is no precedent, and it can be regarded as a kind of compensation for the fireflies to use as a bargaining chip for this deal. ”

If Eric had made this condition first, it would have aroused strong resentment, but now there is not much resistance among the people. Peter Schneider, who had been silent for a long time, said: "Mr. Williams, 5% ...... The bonus is too small. ”

"The average annual salary of an employee in the animation department is about $50,000, and if the animation department sells for $1 billion this time, the average compensation you will receive will be $70,000, which is equivalent to 16 months' salary, plus the bonus of The Lion King, and everyone will receive an average salary equivalent to the previous two years. After Eric's explanation, he looked at Peter Schneider with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and said, "Moreover, Mr. Schneider, you, and Mr. Roy Disney, are not on this list of awards, and this is the last resolution I want to announce at this meeting, from now on, you are fired!"

……

The news that the Firefly Group will package up and sell its hand-drawn animation division quickly exploded throughout Hollywood after the meeting that day. And it was officially confirmed in the Los Angeles Times the next day that Firefly will open bidding in the form of a public auction in a month's time.

Immediately afterwards, Firefly responded to the request of the Firefly Creditor Alliance to be included in the group's board of directors with an unprecedented tough attitude.

After the successive release of Firefly Group's financial results for the first half of 1994, its profit forecast for the second half of the year, and the huge transaction with Condé Nast Group on paper media assets of $1.52 billion, a spokesman for Firefly Group publicly stated that including the funds brought by the upcoming sale of the hand-drawn animation division, Firefly Group's expected non-operating free cash flow at the end of 1994 will not be less than $3 billion, which is enough to explain the excellent operating and financial status of Firefly Group.

Firefly Group will regularly disclose relevant operational and financial information to creditors, but it does not require creditor directors to participate in the management of the company. (To be continued.) )