Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 781: Mutual Schemes
In 1989, for the Japanese people, the entire October was a month of excitement watched from the beginning to the end of the month through the media.

First, it was revealed that Yunshang Entertainment was having operational difficulties and secretly raised a large amount of funds, which led to rumors that celebrity tycoon Hideki Hanyu had failed in his investments and went bankrupt.

Immediately following Mitsubishi's acquisition of Rockefeller Center, Akio Morita and Shintaro Ishihara's "Neon Can Say No" gave Japanese society a strong shot of national pride.

But when everyone seemed to be in a state of high spirits, Hideki Hanyu released a new work "I Am a Cat" that satirized reality, exposed social scars, and was pessimistic about the economic trend.

This kind of work that goes against the general trend of public opinion naturally aroused overall criticism from Japanese public opinion.

For a time, the proud and highly respected national teacher, who had made his fortune from scratch, seemed to have become a "non-national" who was seeking fame and was criticized by thousands of people.

As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it; when a drum is broken, everyone beats it. Following some sarcastic criticism from someone in the locust room, Hideki Hanyu was excluded from the list of the Order of Culture.

Many people also began to take advantage of the situation and add insult to injury to Hideki Hanyu.

Although many people don't dare to do anything directly, they are still able to beat around the bush and make sarcastic remarks when being interviewed by the media.

Even at the end of the month, because Panasonic broke the news that it was acquiring MCA Universal, Yunshang Entertainment immediately admitted that it was competing with Panasonic, breaking the rumors that Hideki Hanyu had failed in his investment and went bankrupt.

However, the public criticism against Hanyu Hideki caused by the book "I Am a Cat" shows no signs of stopping.

If we only look at the media opinions at that time, it seemed that Hideki Hanyu had become the target of criticism from everyone in Japan, and his public image could not be worse.

But the problem is that the media channels in the 1980s were one-sided and easily manipulated and distorted by certain forces, so it cannot be said that the overall direction of public opinion necessarily represents all public opinion.

At this time, if someone calms down and observes patiently.

Then he will definitely find out.

In places that many people can't see.

Outside the bustling metropolis.

To those who keep saying that the Japanese economy will always be prosperous, Hideki Hanyu's book is nothing but alarmist and sweeping generalizations, and they are unwilling to understand the grassroots corners.

There are too many ordinary people in Japan who did not benefit from the bubble economy, but after reading Hideki Hanyu's book, they were moved by the humorous yet ironic content of the book and resonated with the naked reality revealed.

They want to express their true thoughts and speak up for Hideki Hanyu.

But unfortunately, they are not the ones who have the say in this era.

Their voices are destined not to be mainstream public opinion.

But the problem is that although false public opinion can confuse people and create illusions, it can never turn falsehood into reality.

And those ordinary people who are truly struggling in reality will eventually contribute their own little efforts to the works that can move them.

It was in this situation where no one noticed that the sales of "I Am a Cat" quietly took a completely opposite path to its reputation.

But what is strange is that neither Shogakukan, which has first-hand sales data, nor Yunshang media, which shares intelligence, reported the news in the first place.

The president of Shogakukan, Tetsuo Soga, also called Hideki Hanyu immediately to inform him of the sales trend of Hanyu's new book.

Hideki Hanyu, who answered the phone, was lying in the bedroom of Red Maple Manor in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

In front of Hideki Hanyu is the Australian white girl Nicole Kidman, who is trying hard to twist her waist and try her best to please him.

The moment he received the call, Hideki Hanyu paused the video recorder beside his bed to prevent the ongoing "artistic filming" from recording his conversation.

Next, after learning about the sales of "I Am a Cat" from Tetsuo Soga on the other end of the phone, Hideki Hanyu simply made a casual comment.

"Don't worry, don't announce it for now."

Then he ended the call with Tetsuo Soga.

As for why he left Hawaii temporarily and suddenly came to Los Angeles.

The apparent reason was that he was invited by Alan Horn, CEO of Cloud Pictures, to attend the celebration party for "Need for Speed".

And the premiere of another new film "Leap Over Innocence" produced by Yunshang Pictures.

Need for Speed ​​is a success, and now it's officially released in America with a total box office of $113 million.

The new movie "Leap of Innocence", as a bargain investment for Hideki Hanyu, had a box office of 140 million US dollars in North America in its previous life.

Since these two movies can help him make a lot of money, it is natural for Hideki Hanyu to come and support them.

As for Nicole Kidman, she attended a screening of her new movie "Driving Miss Daisy" at Cloud Pictures as the lead actress and happened to meet Hideki Hanyu who was visiting the company.

Then she took the initiative to ask Hanyu Hideki to take her to Hongfeng Manor to practice her acting skills.

In addition to the superficial reasons, another real reason why Hideki Hanyu came to Los Angeles was to meet with Lou Wasserman, CEO of MCA Global.

If he wants to continue dragging out the issue of the acquisition of MCA Universal with Panasonic, he will have to put in some effort.

After all, even if you are fishing, you still need to make a nest.

Although we often bait the bait and feed the fish, we still cannot escape the fate of coming up empty-handed.

But for Hideki Hanyu, in his competition with Panasonic, he never thought about really catching the big fish of MCA Global.

Thinking of this, Hideki Hanyu put down the phone, turned on the video recorder beside the bed again, and then took a picture of the Australian big white girl's buttocks.

"Hurry up and don't waste time. I have an important guest to meet this afternoon."

Nicole Kidman asked curiously in a charming voice, "Who are you going to meet, dear?"

"Lou Wasserman." Hanyu Hideki answered casually.

Nicole Kidman's eyes lit up when she heard the name.

After all, having been in Hollywood for so long, Nicole Kidman is certainly no stranger to big figures like Lou Wasserman at the top of the Hollywood pyramid.

As she thought about it, she cautiously asked, "Is it a public event?"

Hanyu Hideki said, "I guess so. It's a cocktail reception for investment in a Hollywood movie project."

Hearing this, Nicole Kidman quickly pleaded delicately, "Then please take me with you."

Hanyu Hideki immediately understood the woman's thoughts and asked directly, "Why? Do you want to find an opportunity?"

Seeing that Hanyu Hideki had guessed what she was thinking, Nicole Kidman answered truthfully, "Yes, after all, I need works to prove myself now."

"Now behave yourself. If you make me happy, I will take you there."

Nicole Kidman certainly knows what Hideki Hanyu's performance means.

Therefore, after the scumbag finished speaking, he immediately used all his skills and began to show his strength in front of the video camera.

The performance of the Australian big white girl finally won the recognition of Hideki Hanyu.

When the time comes to afternoon.

In the Rolls-Royce that drove out of Red Maple Manor, Nicole Kidman successfully sat next to Hideki Hanyu, and they rushed to the event site together.

at the same time.

Far away in neon Tokyo, near the Chuo Ward Stock Exchange, in the office of a company with the words "Tama Financial Co., Ltd."

Tokura Shunichi was pulling Honma and others to watch the news broadcast on TV.

The content of the broadcast was the Neon Locust Room spokesperson announcing the list of recipients of the Order of Culture. When someone said impatiently, "What's so interesting about this kind of news broadcast?"

Tokura Shunichi immediately explained, "Of course the broadcast is boring, but it is interesting to see someone get unlucky."

Honma, who was standing next to him, grinned and said, "It seems that the rumors are true. Hanyu Hideki has been removed from the list of recipients of the Order of Culture this time."

"Of course it's true. That gentleman has made a public statement. How could Hanyu Hideki continue to appear on the honors list?"

While Tokura Shunichi was speaking, the TV broadcast had already ended the announcement of the list of honorees, and Hideki Hanyu was indeed not on the list.

Such a result immediately made Toshikazu Tokura and his group burst into laughter.

Tokura Shunichi expressed it with a very happy look on his face.

“I’ve been in such a good mood recently. That idiot Hanyu Hideki actually published such a self-righteous work. Not only was he disliked by everyone, but he even lost the Order of Culture.

If he appeared in front of me now, I would definitely laugh at him. "

Honma, who was standing next to him, smiled happily when he heard this, but he still spoke cautiously.

"I always feel that this matter is not that simple. After all, the media in Hanyu Hideki's hands did not help Hanyu Hideki speak. This is really strange."

But someone immediately refuted with disdain. "Maybe he has lost his mind. A humble man from a commoner family has achieved his current success in a short period of time. It is reasonable that he is so arrogant that he has lost his judgment. Otherwise, why would he publish such a meaningless novel now?"

Someone else followed suit, "Yes, Honma, you always said he was a smart man, a cunning businessman who we need to pay attention to, but judging from his current performance, he is just so-so."

At this time, Tokura Shunichi sighed with pretended regret, "Alas, even if the public opinion attacks Hanyu Hideki just because of a work can have a certain negative impact on him, it can't shake his foundation.

If the previous media rumors that he was going bankrupt due to failed investments were true, that would be great, but unfortunately he was just trying to raise funds for acquisitions. "

As soon as Tokura Shunichi said this, he immediately caused a wave of regrets from those around him.

After all, everyone sitting here wants to see Hideki Hanyu get into trouble.

But at this moment, Honma raised his finger and shook it, saying, "You are wrong. Rather than hoping for the remote possibility that Hanyu Hideki's investment will fail and he will go bankrupt, I think it is good news for us that he is raising funds to acquire MCA Global."

"What does Mr. Honma mean?" Tokura Shunichi asked humbly.

Honma did not answer directly, but looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think the price of MCA Global's acquisition will be?"

Someone thought for a moment and answered, "Sony spent $5 billion to acquire Columbia. MCA Universal is much larger than Columbia, so the final price will definitely be more than $5 billion."

Someone immediately responded, "Sony is only negotiating with Columbia Pictures for the acquisition, but MCA Universal is competing with Cloud Entertainment and Panasonic. The final price will definitely be higher than normal."

As a practitioner in the entertainment industry, Tokura Shunichi conservatively guessed a number, "Six billion dollars?"

Honma nodded first, then shook his head and said, "It is definitely more than 6 billion US dollars, but whether it is 6 billion US dollars, 6.5 billion US dollars, or more money, do you think Yunshang Entertainment, or Hanyu Hideki, has so much cash flow?"

Upon hearing this, everyone around shook their heads, indicating a negative answer.

As a group of professional "players" stirring up trouble in the financial circle, how could they not understand the cash flow of a company or an individual?

Don’t assume that just because a company is worth billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars on the stock market, it must have a lot of money in its accounts.

Market value and cash flow are completely different things.

In many cases, it is difficult for companies with a market value of tens of billions of dollars to suddenly come up with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.

To exaggerate a little, a gap of tens of millions in cash flow is enough to put a company of this level in trouble.

So in the eyes of these people, even though Hideki Hanyu has many companies under his control, he has several large-scale listed companies.

But it is absolutely impossible for Hideki Hanyu to suddenly take out 6 or 7 billion US dollars in cash.

At this time, Honma put on an expression of confidence and slowly explained.

“That’s why I say that Hanyu Hideki raising funds to acquire MCA Global is good news to me.

Judging from his need to sell the headquarters building of Cloud Entertainment and Elf Entertainment, he wants to raise funds to acquire MCA Global, which cannot be solved by Cloud Entertainment alone.

But how much money can he get just by selling buildings? Then he sold everything he could, but he still had to keep increasing his stakes in the competition with Panasonic, so what should he sell? What else could he sell?

"Honma-san, you mean stocks?"

When Tokura Shunichi asked, he seemed to have understood what Honma meant, and anticipation unconsciously appeared in his eyes.

“It seems that Dokura-san understands what I mean. We have been planning for the opponent Hanyu Hideki for so long, but we have never found a suitable opportunity.

If he takes the initiative to offer us the opportunity to acquire MCA Global, we who have been preparing for this for so long will definitely not miss this opportunity!"

When Honma said this, he couldn't help but reveal his signature cruel and crazy smile on his greasy face.

"So what should we do next?" someone asked Honma.

“Since Hideki Hanyu is anxious to raise funds to acquire MCA Universal, we, his old friends, must lend him a helping hand.

Therefore, from now on, we also need to raise funds and wait for Hideki Hanyu to give us a chance.

So please don't hesitate and go all out to raise funds, otherwise when the harvest comes, don't blame me for not taking you to eat meat together."

When Honma said this, there was a burst of agreement in the room.

Everyone was patting their chests and promising that even if they had to sell everything they had, they would take the opportunity to bite off a piece of meat from Hanyu Hideki.

……

Under the dark night sky of Los Angeles.

Hideki Hanyu, who had already finished his meeting with Lou Wasserman, left the event early and was standing on the street thinking about something.

Next to him stood Nicole Kidman, looking disappointed and pitiful.

The reason why the Australian big white girl was disappointed, of course, was that she didn't find any opportunity at the event.

Then try to use your current expression to gain some benefits from Hanyu Hideki.

But unfortunately, Hideki Hanyu had just dealt with Lew Wasserman and pushed up the price of acquiring MCA Universal to $6 billion, successfully delaying the progress of the negotiations.

But at this moment, he was thinking about other important things and had no time to care about the expression and thoughts of the woman next to him.

Even the scumbag who had enjoyed himself during the day was not planning to continue being with the big white Australian girl at night, but was planning to find a new love.

So under Hideki Hanyu's arrangement, Nicole Kidman was sent away by the scumbag's bodyguard before she could say anything.

After disappearing with Nicole Kidman, Hideki Hanyu got into his car.

First, ask the assistant to arrange the flight back to Hawaii tomorrow.

Then he instructed Marco to take Jennifer Connelly to Red Maple Manor.

Finally, he picked up his mobile phone and called one of Nihong's subordinates.

"Now you can spread the news about what I told you before."

The subordinate on the other end of the phone asked respectfully, "President, which company should I start looking for a buyer for first?"

“Not just one, but all the listed companies under my name.”

(End of this chapter)