Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 730: This is the topic I'm waiting for
Let’s talk about the fact that Sony was cheated in its acquisition of Columbia Pictures.

Today, Hanyu Hideki has basically figured out the truth by combining the decrypted news reports of later generations with the intelligence he has at hand at the time.

First of all, the entry into Hollywood was initiated by Sony founder Akio Morita.

In addition to satisfying his own emotions, Akio Morita was also considering Sony's future strategy.

Akio Morita's wish is Sony's action program.

According to Akio Morita's intuition, in the future world's commercial competition, Hollywood is a gathering of intellectual property and public sentiment, the birthplace of the creative world, and the leader of information industry and cultural resources, all of which are of great strategic significance.

Therefore, Akio Morita saw the foundation on which Sony's future survival depended.

Audiovisual entertainment.

That's why Akio Morita planned to enter Hollywood.

From the perspective of a time traveler like Hideki Hanyu, Akio Morita's business intuition can be said to be sharp.

But the problem is that while formulating strategic development, Akio Morita did not assume management responsibility for development.

In the early 1980s, Akio Morita resigned as president of Sony, served only on the board of directors, and gradually faded out of Sony's front-line operational management.

The power in the hands of Akio Morita was transferred to his successor, Sony's new president Norio Ohga.

Norio Ohga, who served as president, grew up in Sony, an atypical family business. He developed the habit of obeying his "master" Akio Morita's orders on the one hand, and at the same time playing the role of a "tyrant" who had the final say within Sony.

Akio Morita was in America all year round, and Norio Ohga, who was in charge of Sony's headquarters, could only give orders to Sony's America headquarters over the phone due to health reasons.

It was under this strange relationship that Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures began.

It just so happens that dealing with this kind of big situation is a very tiring and tedious task.

Important aspects such as price negotiation, strategic alignment, organizational design, organizational structure adjustment, staff reduction, etc. require a professional and well-rounded work team.

But Sony's weird upper-level relationships make them very imperfect in this regard.

In the end, we had no choice but to simply and roughly entrust all the work to the America team.

Then, a Sony acquisition team was formed, built on personal ties and connections.

There are three most important people in a team.

First, there is the middleman on Sony's side, the former American Secretary of Commerce, former chairman of the famous investment bank Lehman Brothers, and now the founder of the famous Wall Street private equity investment fund, Blackstone Group.

Peter Peterson.

This person was a "good friend" and investment advisor that Akio Morita met in social occasions after he moved to New York to live permanently.

It can be said that Peter Peterson was able to become a member of the acquisition team because of his relationship with Akio Morita.

As for why we put quotation marks around the identity of friends, we will explain it in detail later.

The second important person in the team is Mickey Schulhof, president of Sony in America.

The head of Sony's North America was also promoted by Akio Morita and was one of Akio Morita's "own people."

The last important person is Peter Guber, CEO of Columbia Pictures.

On the surface, Peter Guber also had a good personal relationship with Akio Morita.

So when the Sony acquisition happened, things got really complicated and weird.

The decision to enter Hollywood and acquire Columbia Pictures was made by Akio Morita.

The three main members of the acquisition team were all trusted friends of Akio Morita, at least on the surface.

But at this time, the president of Sony, who was in charge of directing this matter, was Norio Ohga, who was obedient to Akio Morita and was unable to go to America in person due to health reasons.

In this case, it was a foregone conclusion that Norio Ohga would delegate the acquisition work to a work team trusted by Akio Morita.

Next, it goes without saying what the outcome of the acquisition will be.

Akio Morita tried his best to integrate into the American upper class, but the American upper class was not so willing to accept him.

This is like a devoted licker who tries his best to lick his goddess, but the goddess ignores him.

As expected, Akio Morita's trusted "friends" severely betrayed Sony during the acquisition.

Peter Peterson, who served as a middleman, business consultant, and good friend of Akio Morita, used all his "talents" gained from his years of working on Wall Street.

Peter Peterson helped Sony negotiate the price of Columbia Pictures from $12 per share before the acquisition to $24 per share at the time of the acquisition.

During the negotiations, Columbia Pictures' stock price doubled. As a director of a Wall Street investment bank and founder of a private equity fund, only Peter Peterson knows how much money he made from the opportunity.

In the end, Peter Peterson, who "worked hard", negotiated a purchase price of $24 per share from $27 per share, successfully allowing Sony to double the premium and spend $ billion to acquire Columbia Pictures.

Among the three important people, Peter Peterson was able to make money through acquisitions, and the other two naturally made a lot of money as well.

Even Columbia Pictures President Peter Guber received a large amount of cash from his shares.

What’s interesting is that after the news of Sony’s acquisition of Columbia Pictures came out, large-scale anti-Neon sentiment immediately broke out across America.

Sony, unsurprisingly, has become the center of this storm of public opinion.

Under pressure from public opinion, Sony had to publicly announce that it would not turn Columbia Pictures into a new company and would retain all of Columbia's original management.

Then, Sony America President Mickey Schulhof and Columbia Pictures CEO Peter Guber not only made a lot of money through acquisitions, but also successfully monopolized Sony's rights in North America.

Sony Columbia Pictures also entered a period of huge losses that lasted for many years.

Thinking of this, Hanyu Hideki looked at the person in front of him who was welcoming him, and a hint of amusement flashed across his eyes.

The person standing in front of Hideki Hanyu was Mickey Schulhof, the president of Sony America and one of the three members of the acquisition team.

According to Hideki Hanyu's channel investigation, Sony was attacked by American public opinion because of its acquisition of Columbia Pictures, and this Sony president was behind the scenes fanning the flames.

Of course, Columbia Pictures CEO Peter Guber also had a hand in this.

The latter even blew himself up when he was interviewed by the media later.

As for why the two did this, there is no need to guess, it was to allow the pressure of public opinion to continue to allow them to control the rights of Sony Columbia Pictures.

And what these guys do is also the reason why Hideki Hanyu does not hate CAA President Michael Ovitz.

Although Michael Ovitz helped Columbia Pictures to cheat Sony in this acquisition, he was the middleman of Columbia Pictures and there was nothing wrong with his doing so.

But they are different from the three people in front of us. They claim to be friends of Akio Morita, and appear to be on Sony's side, but they have ruined Sony to the point of bleeding.

"Mr. Hanyu?"

Seeing that Hanyu Hideki did not say anything after he had politely invited him, Mickey Schulhof quickly asked another question without any displeasure on his face.

People like them dare to deceive their superiors and subordinates behind the scenes and take advantage of Sony's lack of staff to do this and that.

But he is unwilling to fall out with a new super-rich man like Hideki Hanyu who is young, strong, calm, decisive, and self-made.

After all, in essence, Hideki Hanyu's industry is different from Sony's.

Hideki Hanyu's personality, character, and attitude towards America are completely different from those of Akio Morita.

If Akio Morita is a bootlicker of the goddess America.

Then Hideki Hanyu is the goddess's elusive white moonlight.

Hideki Hanyu never fawns on America, but because of his many identities, he is highly sought after by many old money people in America.

Akio Morita was unable to get invitations to those so-called high-class parties in New York, but Hideki Hanyu could easily get them and yet he didn't care at all.

Akio Morita wanted to maintain Japan's self-esteem, but he also tried his best to please the American market. His whole mental state was almost twisted into a dough stick.

However, Hideki Hanyu only adheres to one principle when doing things: business is business, everything is based on interests, and there is nothing that cannot be traded.

Just look at the large number of American suppliers in the Elf industry chain and you will know that he doesn't care about the so-called interests of Japan at all.

However, his behavior as an "international capitalist" made him more respected and popular.

Being awakened from his thoughts by Mickey Schulhof, Hanyu Hideki immediately said apologetically, "Sorry, I was just thinking about when Mr. Schulhof and I first met."

He pretended to be in a daze and said, "If I remember correctly, it should be at Mr. Morita's private dinner in New York."

Upon hearing this, Miki Schulhof immediately smiled and said, "I didn't expect Mr. Hanyu still remembered me."

"Mickey Schulhof is a good friend of Mr. Morita and a contributor to Sony's expansion in North America. How could I not remember him?"

Hideki Hanyu spoke kindly, and the smile on Mikki Schulhof's face suddenly became even wider.

After all, he couldn't help feeling a bit proud to be praised by a super rich man like Hanyu Hideki.

However, despite being very proud, Miki Schulhof still made an invitation, "The event is about to start, Mr. Hanyu, please come in, Mr. Morita is here today, you can have a good chat." "Then I'll take my leave first."

After Hanyu Hideki finished speaking, he walked in with two generals from Yunshang Pictures.

After entering the event site, he indeed saw Akio Morita, the center of attention.

Although he is old and frail, he looks in very good spirits.

After all, after acquiring Columbia Pictures, Sony not only owned the oldest film studio in Hollywood, but also owned hundreds of cinemas under TriStar Cinema, and then merged with Sony Music, which bought Columbia Records.

At this point, Sony Entertainment has become the most important entertainment group in Hollywood and the world.

It is understandable that Akio Morita is welcomed by the industry for this reason, and this "business saint" is obviously very satisfied with his current treatment.

But unfortunately, Akio Morita, the "business saint", spent more of his energy on clinging to New York's upper class, on colluding with the right wing, and on marketing his morbid nationalism.

It felt like an elderly person trying desperately to gain a posthumous reputation for himself.

Otherwise, with Akio Morita's ability, how could he not see through the tricks of his "friends"?

At this time, next to Akio Morita, Hideki Hanyu also saw two other important figures from Sony's acquisition team.

Peter Peterson, founder of the Blackstone Group, and Peter Guber, CEO of Columbia Pictures.

However, after Hideki Hanyu appeared, there was one more person who became the target of everyone's attention.

This person is naturally Hideki Hanyu.

Although Yunshang Pictures has just achieved some success in Hollywood, it is still a marginal player.

But Hanyu Hideki himself is no marginal figure.

After all, Hideki Hanyu owns Blockbuster, a videotape rental company with more than 4,200 stores worldwide.

It also controls three dominant gaming platforms and is a world-class seller of peripheral derivatives and toys, Elf Entertainment.

Not to mention the Yunshang Entertainment Media Group, which is behind Yunshang Pictures, is the world's most famous emerging media giant.

It owns the world's largest cinema group and Asia's largest pay satellite TV station, and is the most professional film distributor in the world outside of America.

Yunshang Entertainment also controls the largest and most powerful artist management business in Asia, is Asia's largest producer of television and film content, and is Asia's top-tier record company.

Not to mention the various paper media, television and radio media companies that Yunshang Entertainment has invested in, controlled, or acquired around the world.

Such a person as Hideki Hanyu is certainly worthy of the industry insiders on the scene to take the initiative to communicate and curry favor with him, and they should even be more enthusiastic towards him than they were towards Akio Morita.

After all, you will find out if you compare.

Sony, which acquired Columbia Pictures and merged with Columbia Records, is of course very powerful.

In terms of revenue from consumer electronics, even Elf Entertainment needs to catch up.

However, Hideki Hanyu, who focuses on the field of entertainment and media, has created a very professional and comprehensive platform that can help anyone who wants to cooperate to create greater benefits.

Therefore, for a while, more and more people gathered around Hanyu Hideki, and they were almost overwhelmed by the host Morita Akio.

However, Hideki Hanyu, who came here with a purpose, would naturally not let such a thing happen.

He decisively left Fred Weber and Alan Horn to deal with the people around them, then acted like a junior and took the initiative to go over and greet Akio Morita.

"Morita, congratulations to Sony on its successful acquisition of Columbia Pictures. I believe that under your leadership, Columbia Pictures will surely become the number one in Hollywood."

As soon as Hideki Hanyu appeared, he became the focus of the scene and almost stole the limelight from Akio Morita. It would be impossible to say that Akio Morita was not unhappy.

But seeing that Hanyu Hideki came to congratulate him as a junior, Morita Akio could no longer get angry, and his unhappiness was greatly alleviated.

Besides, in the eyes of the Japanese business community, he and Hideki Hanyu both belong to the Mitsui Group.

Mitsui Financial Group not only holds shares in Tohoku Energy, but also holds shares in several listed companies of Hideki Hanyu.

Thinking that he was one of his own, Akio Morita spoke in a gentle tone.

"Thank you very much, President Hanyu, for coming to this event. In the future, both Sony and Yunshang Entertainment will work in Hollywood. We hope that we can help and support each other, just like we do in Neon."

The meaning of this statement is also to point out to Hideki Hanyu that we are all one family, and in a foreign country, on American territory, we must unite and face the outside world.

But when Hanyu Hideki heard this, he said "Sure, sure."

But I didn't believe it at all.

They still support and help each other, just like they did in Neon.

It sounds like Sony and he have a very good relationship in Japan. Although he also cooperated with Akio Morita's company, it was more about various calculations for profit.

Not to mention that Sony Columbia Pictures is not currently controlled by Sony headquarters. Even if it is controlled by Sony, so what? If there is any disturbance, in a critical situation, I am afraid that its own people will be the ones who sell the fastest.

He came to the event today with the intention of taking advantage of Sony.

I believe that when Akio Morita saw him, he might have thought the same thing.

Sony bought Columbia Pictures, but in terms of survival in Hollywood, Cloud Pictures is now much better off than Sony Columbia Pictures.

After all, Sony has been losing money year after year since it acquired Columbia Pictures, with the biggest loss in one year being more than 3 billion US dollars.

It is because Sony is a big and powerful company, otherwise if it had a different financial sponsor, it would have been cheated to death long ago.

Didn’t you see that after Panasonic bought Universal Pictures, it couldn’t bear the losses and sold it in a hurry not long after it acquired it?

After Akio Morita and Hideki Hanyu had a brief chat, two "good friends" of Akio Morita, Peter Peterson, one of the founders of Blackstone Group, and Peter Guber, who continued to serve as CEO of Columbia Pictures, also found Hideki Hanyu.

The former tried to get close to the man with a smile on his face, and immediately mentioned his Blackstone Financial Management Company.

This was the financial management company under the Blackstone Group, which was founded by Larry Fink and in which Hideki Hanyu had invested before. It was also the predecessor of the famous BlackRock Group in later generations.

"Mr. Hanyu, I heard that you have a good personal relationship with Larry Fink?"

Hanyu Hideki nodded and said, "Yes, Larry gave me a lot of help and advice on investment."

"Haha, if you have a need, Blackstone Group can also help you manage your finances more scientifically. And if you have the same wish as Mr. Morita, I can also help you."

As soon as Peter Peterson said this with a hint of deep meaning, Hanyu Hideki immediately sneered in his heart.

He thought, isn't it enough that this guy has cheated Sony, is he planning to cheat him now?
But he is not the retired Akio Morita, nor is he Norio Ohga who is unwell and can only be controlled remotely by phone.

Peter Peterson has status and connections on Wall Street, but a phoenix in trouble is no better than a chicken.

If anyone dares to have bad intentions towards him, he wouldn't mind creating another yacht accident.

Thinking of this, Hanyu Hideki said with an unchanged expression, "Mr. Peter may have misunderstood. I am different from Mr. Morita, and my company is not Sony."

We are all smart people, and Hideki Hanyu has made it very clear.

I know that you are cheating Sony, but I won't do anything about it.

But don't think of me as Akio Morita or Sony. I won't buy it.

After hearing this, Peter Peterson did not show any strange expression, but deliberately lowered his voice.

"The Blackstone Group has always been flexible in its operations, providing different services to different clients. If Mr. Hanyu is interested, we can set up a time to discuss in detail."

When Hanyu Hideki heard this, he suddenly found it interesting.

The other party is indeed a veteran player on Wall Street. He is very skilled in judging people and deciding what to do with them.

The subtext of the other party's words is that I won't cheat you the way I cheated Sony.

In that case, Hideki Hanyu doesn't mind chatting with him.

Nodding slightly, Hanyu Hideki replied, "Okay, since we're all in Los Angeles, how about tomorrow?"

"No problem, see you tomorrow then."

Peter Peterson said this and left in a happy mood.

Soon after, Peter Guber, CEO of Sony Columbia Pictures, approached Hideki Hanyu.

"Mr. Hanyu, could you please talk about the cooperation between Sony Columbia and Cloud Pictures?"

"of course."

Hideki Hanyu readily agreed.

After all, he came to the event tonight just waiting for this topic.

(End of this chapter)