Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 253 Changes in the sky
"Cheers~"

"Danglang~"

Everyone at the table raised their glasses together, and a crisp sound caused the wine to foam.

After drinking it all, Steve Ballmer decisively stood up and poured wine for everyone. Roy Disney, with a slightly red cheek, leaned back in his chair and laughed, "Oh - Ethan - thank you so much this time!"

"When I returned to the group, Ron Miller's face was as long as a horse's!"

"Because he didn't expect that I would be there on the day of the meeting! He also didn't expect that I would directly take over the Disney representative position!"

"You know, that seat is usually occupied by Ron Miller himself!"

"It's just because I don't want to confront you head-on, so I let the representative participate this time."

"And his concession directly let us inside Disney know that I, Roy Disney, am now the real president of the Disney Group! He, Ron Miller, is nothing!"

“Hahahaha——” The laughter of the crowd rang out in the huge restaurant.

Ethan Jones, who was sitting in the main seat, nodded slightly to show his understanding.

Spielberg and Lucas next to Roy Disney were like curious babies.

They opened their eyes wide and asked eagerly, "Roy, besides this, did anything else happen at the venue that day?"

"I heard that the meeting that day was unusually intense?"

"Of course!" Roy Disney slammed the table and raised his voice. "It's a pity that you two didn't go to the scene! Wow - Steve's attitude of angrily scolding everyone is really cool!"

"What do you mean I'm not here to ask for your opinion! I'm here to inform you!"

"What else do I want to see? Can you unite, or do we have a strong backing?"

"That day, he really demonstrated the word arrogance perfectly!"

"Honestly! I personally think that if he holds a black cat, he will be more like the Godfather than Marlon Brando! The aura he had that day! Oh - it was amazing!"

"Oh, Roy, you really flatter me." The intonation of the words made Steve Ballmer stop pouring the wine. He looked up and said, "I just attended a meeting at the request of my boss that day. Everything was arranged by my boss and had nothing to do with me."

"Right, boss?"

Steve Ballmer didn't dare to take the credit. Everyone turned their eyes to Ethan Jones. After realizing that he had become the focus of the audience again, Ethan, who was a little excited, waved his hands and said, "Nonsense! I'm just a 23-year-old boy who has not received higher education!"

"What do I know about business? What do I know about meetings?"

"Today's celebration banquet depends entirely on your support!"

"Yo——" There was booing from the audience.

Ethan smiled and shook his head, saying, "Okay, Okay, I drank a little too much, so I'm going to the bathroom. You don't have to worry about me, just keep chatting and drinking~"

As he said that, he stood up and staggered out of the private room.

As he left, the scene suddenly became chaotic again, and Ethan walked out of the restaurant...

A little tipsy, he first washed his face at the bathroom sink, then wandered into the back garden of the hotel, found a place to sit down simply, felt the sea breeze, and gazed at the night sky.

Today is February 15th, just two weeks after the broadcast of the competition short films and five days after the extraordinary meeting of the Film Association. However, the slowness in life cannot reduce the speed at work, because in just one hundred and twenty hours, Hollywood has changed.

Perhaps they knew they were not strong enough to continue playing at the Hollywood table, or perhaps they were frightened by Ethan Jones's madness, so within 24 hours of the end of the Film Association's extraordinary meeting, the only medium-sized production company in the association, Embassy Pictures, put it up for sale.

Embassy Pictures was founded by Joseph Levine in the early 1940s. Its initial business was to distribute foreign films in the United States. Their masterpiece was to introduce the original Godzilla to the United States for a licensing fee of US$12,000, earning a box office dividend of one million. The exaggerated 83-fold profit ratio made them famous in the American film industry. After that, they introduced a large number of foreign films and marketed the first foreign best actress in Oscar history.

Of course, they also have outstanding performances in production. The well-known comedy "The Graduate" starring Dustin Hoffman was produced by them, and the satirical film "The Producers" was also invested and distributed by them. However, the field they are best at is actually television. The copyright of CBS's well-known series "The Jeffersons" is in their hands, and they also produced the series "Living in the Now".

Unfortunately, in Hollywood, it is not enough to have excellent production capabilities and excellent distribution vision. If you want to become a giant, you must obtain the support of other factors. When Paramount has capital tycoons in charge, Warner has The Undertaker entering the market, Universal has achieved the integration of audio and video, and Disney has built a perfect paradise on the wave of the times, Embassy Pictures, which has nothing, is destined to be eliminated by the market.

Not to mention, now, Ethan Jones has lifted up their underwear like a dragon crossing the river.

Therefore, knowing that they could not keep up with the times, they set a price for themselves, starting at 20 million, and whoever bid the highest would own the company.

This behavior attracted the attention of countless people.

Tom Laughlin, the famous director and creator of the Billy Jack series, immediately communicated with Embassy Pictures and was willing to acquire the company for 20 million in cash and 4 million in securities;
Billionaire Jerry Perenchio, Elizabeth Taylor's agent who invited Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier to fight the fight of the century at Madison Square Garden, also participated in the bidding. He was willing to pay $25 million in cash for the company.
In addition, Paramount also showed great interest in their film library, offering Embassy Pictures a purchase price of US$30 million and stating that the transaction would be carried out in the form of a stock swap.

After a round of bidding, Embassy Pictures, which felt that Paramount was the most sincere, negotiated with them and signed a letter of intent to merge within 48 hours. On the morning of February 12, it formally submitted the acquisition agreement to the American Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice. As long as the two ministries formally approve it, the acquisition can be completed.

When this god-like transaction speed appeared, industry insiders who learned the news were shocked. No one expected that Embassy Pictures would be the first victim of this war, but when they considered Ethan Jones's amazing destructive power, everyone was relieved.

The second one that couldn't bear it was Columbia. As early as last year when MGM launched a hostile takeover, Columbia's shareholders had planned to withdraw from the game. But now, after being dazzled by Ethan Jones's indiscriminate hammer, they completely want to leave this circle.

So, on February 13, they formally signed an agency contract with Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street investment bank, hoping that Goldman Sachs could help them find a buyer. It was said that those shareholders did not have a strong desire for the company's value. They had only one request, which was to sell the entire company as a package, and only in cash.

They do not accept any form of stock exchange transactions.

Because after Destiny Pictures made it clear that I must be put first in everything, any normal investor would not want to experience a second threat.

When two of the eight original members of the Motion Picture Association of America decided to take the money and leave, the instigators of the war were also liquidated by the remaining players, led by MGM, which was in obvious decline in Hollywood.

Under pressure from his peers, Kirk Kerkorian, who wanted to take root in Hollywood but was powerless, officially announced on the afternoon of February 13 that he would split MGM Group into two.

One is MGM, a film company that focuses on the film business;

The other is MGM Hotels, which mainly operates casino hotels in Las Vegas.

He also said that he would continue to split up MGM Studios, completely separate the film library and production, package them and put them on the shelves for rent for a period of ten years.

As long as someone buys MGM's film library, the owner can enjoy all the rights and interests brought by the film library in the next ten years after the contract is signed, including but not limited to authorization from TV parties, sales of videotapes, re-screening of movies, and other visible income.

If it were a few years ago, this film library would definitely be "worthless".

Because at that time, the only profit points of the film library were TV screenings and movie re-screenings.

But when the product of videotapes came into being, those old movies that had been shown for many years had a second spring.

Therefore, with MGM's high-profile auction, interest has been generated both inside and outside the circle.

For big studios, what is more interesting is actually making gift packages.

Because after buying this gift package, they will be able to enjoy the subsequent filming rights of all MGM films in the next ten years, including "007" and "Tom and Jerry".

The filming rights of these two sequels alone will make them a fortune!

So, after MGM released the news, big companies rushed in to bid.

Perhaps because he is "reluctant", Kirk Kerkorian is not going to split the company himself. He said that he would entrust the split to Wall Street investment banks, who would negotiate with interested parties.

At the same time, MGM also wants to return to the film distribution industry and said that the investment bank that takes over the split must help them acquire a film company with North American distribution channels, preferably United Artists Pictures, because MGM will not give up the rights to release and distribute the copyrighted films during subsequent filming.

That's right, even if MGM rents out the rights to shoot a sequel to a copyrighted movie, they still want to participate in the subsequent production and dominate the distribution of the movie.

When this twisted struggle emerged, Hollywood giants instantly lost interest in MGM's production packages and began to compete for film libraries, but for outsiders, this was simply full of temptation.

After all, the most unpredictable thing in the film industry is the content.

A good IP can help novices avoid many detours.

While Kirk Kerkorian was feeling the pressure, Warner was also having a hard time. After some private transactions, Warner Communications handed over Warner Music's concert ticketing for the next three years and sold it to American Music, which started out as a ticketing company and is Universal's parent company.

Not only that, Warner also signed a sharing agreement with Fox. From the date of signing the contract, Fox and Atari will share the patent license of MILO video games until Atari's licensing contract expires. And Fox can use Warner Music's copyright library at will in the next five years to select songs or soundtracks to add color to film or television projects.

Speaking of music, Ethan remembered something else.

In the past few days, Spielberg called him and said that his good friend, David Fincher, who used to be a musician, wanted to make a comeback. Because he had received a ban from Warner before, no company dared to hire him. But when Ethan slapped Steve Ross's face until it was swollen...

He wanted to start a company and then register it under the name of Destiny Music, a subsidiary of Destiny Pictures.

Both parties will hold 50% of the shares in the new company, and Destiny Music will have the right to distribute all the music works of the subsidiary. If David Geffen doesn't want to do it in the future, Destiny Music can acquire it first.

When Ethan learned that David Geffen took the initiative to invest, he naturally accepted it with a smile.

Not only that, he also appointed David Geffen as the general manager of Destiny Music, reporting directly to Steve Ballmer and overseeing all matters within the company.

After all, he didn't understand music and he started a music company just to get angry with Warner.

Now that a capable general has come to take care of things, that would be a good thing for him.

At the same time, he also believed that David Geffen did not have the courage to deceive himself.

Even if he cheated, it didn't matter, because he would kill the enemy himself.

Steve Ross started a war, but because of the loss of the war, he had to pay a corresponding price to quell the incident. While Steve Ross and Kirk Kerkorian were cutting flesh and bleeding, the Walt Disney Group... their situation became even worse.

Because of Ethan's relationship, they were indeed not targeted by Paramount, Fox and Universal, but also because of Ethan's relationship, Roy Disney's reputation within the group was now unparalleled.

When executives big and small knew that Ron Miller chose Steve Ross and was humiliated, and Roy Disney chose Ethan Jones and was promoted to the external representative of the Walt Disney Group in front of all his peers...anyone who was a little smart would have started to think.

As for the die-hard fans on both sides...

Ron Miller's side is stagnant.

Roy Disney's side was like handing out money.

According to Roy Disney, if nothing unexpected happens, Ron Miller will definitely be questioned by shareholders at the shareholders' meeting in a few months. They may not be able to seize power immediately, but they can take this opportunity to embed their power within the group and force Ron Miller to give up a few positions. That will not be a problem.

It was a great start to a long war.

Moreover, Roy Disney said that he himself did not expect that the situation would develop so quickly after Ethan entered the scene. They reached a cooperation at the end of last year, but Ethan blew away Ron Miller's disguise at the beginning of this year. The feeling of an emperor killing millions of people in anger made him feel great.

"Oh Ethan, why are you sitting here?"

Just as Ethan was sighing and thinking that fighting with others was a great pleasure, a call came from behind him.

The familiar voice made Ethan unable to move. The person who called him walked over quickly, crossed over the stone bench and sat down side by side. Looking up, the starry night sky explained what the Milky Way was.

"You didn't come out to look at the stars, did you?"

"Oh—why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought you fell into the toilet!"

“Ahem…” Mai Tai’s words made Ethan laugh and cry. He turned his head and saw Evelin’s complaining face. “I just feel it’s too stuffy inside and I want some fresh air.”

"They are really good at speaking! I really admire them!"

"and--"

"Aren't you coming out because you couldn't stand the noise?"

Today's celebration party was led by Ethan. In addition to Spielberg, Lucas and Roy Disney, he invited others who contributed to the table-turning incident, such as Sidney Sheinberg, chairman of American Music, Dennis Stanfill, chairman of Fox, and Barbara Babcock, who proposed the table-turning plan... Not only that, he also booked the Cliff House in San Francisco.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sit in the garden, enjoying the sea breeze and looking at the stars.

Ethan's words also made Evelin glare at him. She turned her head and looked around. The empty scene made the girl feel relieved. "Don't talk nonsense!" Evelin hit him unhappily, but the next second, she giggled again, "Okay, I admit, it's too noisy in there."

"Their voices are like cannon fire, exploding in your ears."

"The speed of his excited speech was more like the sound of a machine gun firing, clattering non-stop."

"People who know know that we are holding a celebration party."

"If you don't know, you'd think there's a cowboy duel going on here."

“It just kept going on and on.”

The vivid metaphor made Ethan laugh. He turned his head and looked around. After confirming that no one was around, he counterattacked, “Oh Evelin, you still said I was talking nonsense?”

"Look at what you just said!"

"It's so noisy in there! It's like a cowboy duel!"

When Ethan imitated his sister's voice and spoke the words just now, the girl's face suddenly darkened.

Staring at Ethan with a frown, the accumulated anger made Ethan decisively change his words.

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding."

Not only that, he raised his hands and surrendered directly.

The sudden sliding to her knees made the girl curl her lips and turn her head to look at the sky.

Ethan knew that she was not angry, but he still supported himself with his hands behind his back, looked up at the stars, and took the initiative to find a topic.

"What did they say after I left?"

Evelyn ignored him.

“Are they complimenting me on how handsome I am?”

“Huh~” Evelin sneered.

"Oh, so you're praising me for being handsome and capable?"

"Hey - luckily I came out -"

"Otherwise I'll be annoyed to death by them."

"I've known this fact for a long time!"

"You keep saying it every day! You keep saying it every day! It's meaningless!"

Ethan felt good about himself.

And those arrogant words made Evelin burst out laughing.

"Why are you so shameless?" She tilted her head to look at Ethan.

"Isn't it?" Ethan raised his eyebrows and asked back.

Although what Ethan said was true, Evelyn just didn't want to admit it.

"Hmph." She ended the topic with a nasal sound. The next second, the girl said, "After you left, they continued to talk about Hollywood, the reactions of various companies, their gains and losses, and then..."

"Before I came out, they were talking about the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti, who was promoted by Universal. He retired and took his whole family to Southeast Asia."

This news made Ethan stunned, "Where did he go?" He suspected that he had heard it wrongly.

“Southeast Asia,” Evelyn repeated the location.

“Oh—” Ethan stretched out his voice, and a smile returned to his face, “Southeast Asia?”

"Understandable."

In Ethan's previous life, he went to Southeast Asia to live after retirement, which was almost becoming an industrial chain in America because of its beautiful scenery, mild climate and low cost of living.

After all, not everyone can buy an island in Hawaii, and not everyone can turn the national wetland park into their own vacation estate like Lawrence Rockefeller did.

When ordinary Americans work hard all their lives and save some money, how to use the existing funds to enjoy a more affluent life is what they care about most. And if you settle in Southeast Asia and spend only $1,000 a month, you can enjoy the life of the Kardashian family.

This kind of beauty makes people yearn for it and attracts ordinary people to flock to it.

Of course, all of the above were advertisements that Ethan saw in his previous life.

He doesn't know whether it is accurate or not.

But no matter how little he knew about world history, he knew that Southeast Asia was not a good place now. It was full of war. And at this time, Jack Valenti went to Southeast Asia?
This only proves one thing.

He was seeking refuge.

When he betrayed Universal and screwed up Warner's plan...

Hiding in a place where neither side can reach you is the best option.

As for the family’s prospects and future?

Are those lives that are important?

Of course, after he had destroyed the internal rules of the Film Association, these things had nothing to do with him anymore. Compared with Jack Valenti's whereabouts, Ethan now wanted to know more about how to solve the problem at Oracle.

Thinking of this, Ethan asked again: "Has Barbara been with you these days?"

"Yes."

"So has there been any progress?"

"What do you think?"

This rhetorical question made Ethan smile.

Stand up and reach out.

"We should go back."

"Let's finish tonight early and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow—"

“It’s also a day full of hope.”

(End of this chapter)