Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 282: Put pressure on Ethan!

Just as Ethan Jones expected, when Ron Miller invited Bill Orr to intervene in the battle for the Walt Disney Group and officially announced his existence to the world, it was just the first appetizer at the dinner.

As for the second soup?
Bill Orr put it on the table on July 16th, Eastern Time. He accepted a concentrated interview with the media at his company in New York, answering why he was optimistic about the Walt Disney Group and why he wanted to acquire it.

"From a business investment perspective, the current share price of Walt Disney Group is seriously undervalued, or in other words, they are the most promising film company in the entire Hollywood."

"There are three reasons—"

"The first is that the Walt Disney Group has not yet been involved in the live-action film and television business."

"While their live-action film and television business is completely blank, they still have unlimited possibilities in the film and television industry. If I successfully acquire Walt Disney, I will use my rich experience in leading Warner Bros. to success on Walt Disney."

"I will try to set up a live-action film and television department. I will focus part of Disney's development on live-action films and live-action television, and try to bring new profit points to the group."

"Second, the Walt Disney Group's theme park business has come to a standstill."

"So far, the Walt Disney Group only has its own theme park projects in California and Florida, but given Walt Disney's influence, their theme parks should be opened all over the world."

"According to my research, before Walt Disney and Roy Disney passed away, they did make plans for Disney theme parks in Asia and Europe. So, if I succeed in acquiring Walt Disney, I will focus on examining their proposal. If it is feasible, I will definitely restart the plan and let the fairytale kingdom of Walt Disney shine as it should."

"Third, there is the possibility of innovation in the animation business of the Walt Disney Group."

"After the death of Mr. Walt Disney, the Walt Disney Group has not produced any outstanding animated films, and this fact has made the fairy tale kingdom lose its luster. In my research, I found that this situation may be related to the struggle within the Walt Disney Group."

"I think you probably don't know that Walt Disney's animation department is currently controlled by Roy Disney Jr., the son of Roy Disney Sr., and he has no talent for animation at all. When his father Roy Disney Sr. was alive, he was not a leader in animation either. All creative work was handled by Mr. Walt Disney, so... I personally think that injecting new souls into the exhausted creative department is what the Walt Disney Group needs to do most right now."

"Of course, in addition to the above three points, there is another reason why I want to acquire the Walt Disney Group, that is videotapes. With the crazy growth of the videotape market, Walt Disney's animated films are precious treasures. Because for ordinary people, live-action movies may become outdated, because even the revolutionary movie "The Jazz Singer" created by my father-in-law does not have many highlights in this era. What drives people to watch it is more about feelings. For children, animated films with educational significance are classics that can be preserved forever."

"When a person is three or five years old, he sees Snow White and feels warm. When he grows up, he will definitely let his children feel this safe warmth that they have identified."

"This is a unique advantage of the Walt Disney Company."

"It seems to me that their tapes will sell better than any other company's."

"Or rather, it is more lasting."

Bill Orr's speech was like a meteorite falling from the sky, smashing into the originally calm sea, causing a huge tsunami and causing Walt Disney's stock price to soar.

In just one day, the total market value of Walt Disney soared to 1.2 billion, which meant that Ethan Jones now had to spend an additional 40 million to buy the number of shares he had previously agreed upon.

This fact made Steve Ross, Hiroshi Yamauchi and others very happy when they heard the news, but it also made Ethan Jones in Palo Alto frown, because the White Knight's tactics were indeed disgusting.

Look, now he feels like vomiting.

Of course, he also admitted that Ron Miller was indeed using serious and conventional methods.

There is no way, because acquisition and counter-acquisition, power seizure and counter-power seizure are all interdependent.
There is no business in this world that can only attack but not defend, and now that they have fought back, then...

Ethan called Ballmer over and said, "Let's stop shopping for a while."

"At this pace, the more we buy, the more we lose."

"So, let them make a fuss first."

"As for Roy Disney..."

"I think they'll understand."

Roy Disney could certainly understand Ethan Jones's difficulties!

Or maybe Bill Orr's public remarks really made him furious!

At this moment, he had no time to discuss the power grab with Ethan Jones. On the afternoon of July 16th, Pacific Time, he took the initiative to invite the media for an exclusive interview and started a verbal battle with Bill Orr.

Roy Disney said that Bill Orr was the biggest layman in the entire industry. He didn't understand what a movie was, let alone an animated movie.

Not only that, he also didn't believe that Bill Orr could bring new vitality to the Walt Disney Group because he had a long history of bad deeds in the Hollywood industry.

"I would like to ask you to recall how Bill Orr left Hollywood? Did he retire voluntarily because of his old age and leave with flowers, applause and praise?"

"Do not--"

"He was driven away by all of us!"

"Bill Orr and his father-in-law Jack Warner are the cancer of the entire industry! They are the ones who created the package deal! They are the ones who created the buyout contract! They were the first to come up with the evil idea that the studios and the performers, directors, and behind-the-scenes staff must be tied together!"

"They come up with super long contracts! Super long film contracts! Force an actor! A director! To work for them at a very low salary! When their movies are making a lot of money, the actors' monthly salary is only three hundred! This is simply the behavior of an executioner! They have been wielding the butcher knife to squeeze us!"

"And now he's saying that I overshadowed Walt Disney?"

"Oh! Let me put it this way! As long as I, Roy Disney, am still around, Bill Orr will never come back to Hollywood! Anyone who invites him will be the sinner of the entire industry!"

"Believe me, I can't control my mouth! If anyone in Walt Disney dares to vote for Bill Orr, I will directly call out your name!"

When Roy Disney got angry and stripped Bill Orr of his underwear, the dark memory of being manipulated by Warner Bros. decades ago suddenly emerged in the minds of every practitioner.

The situation where he signed a contract for seven years with a monthly salary of 300 yuan but ended up acting in 40 or 50 movies made many directors and actors stand up and support Roy Disney.

Clint Walker, Edward Burns, James Garner and others who had been cheated by Warner Bros. and harmed by Bill Orr before directly stated that if Bill Orr really succeeded in acquiring Walt Disney, they would set an example and boycott all Walt Disney products!
And we will call on all members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild to stop cooperating with Walt Disney!
Until Bill Orr gets out of Hollywood!
Until the Warner family disappears completely!
When this strong opposition emerged, the rising share price of Walt Disney was suddenly stepped on by an invisible big foot and plummeted!

In just one day, they lost nearly 400 million!
This fact made Steve Ross, Hiroshi Yamauchi and others who had been paying attention to the situation feel a little regretful.

At the same time, Ethan Jones breathed a sigh of relief.

but……

Before Steve Ross and Hiroshi Yamauchi could express their feelings;
Before Ethan Jones could call Steve Ballmer to look for opportunities to continue buying;
Another variable has emerged.

On July 20, Goldman Sachs announced that they had found a buyer for Columbia Pictures.

Financier Saul Steinberg decided to acquire Columbia Pictures for $690 million. Since the transaction would not involve antitrust issues, the transaction did not require approval.

As long as the third-party agency hired by Saul Steinberg reviews all of Columbia's accounts and confirms that they are correct, they can sign directly. It is expected that all procedures will be completed by the end of the month. When this news came out, Walt Disney's stock price stabilized.

Because when Columbia Pictures was sold at a premium, everyone knew that Walt Disney, which was better than Columbia Pictures, could not be worth only 500 million. They were the best film company in Hollywood with the theme park, and no matter who came, they were worth 800 million at the moment.

Of course, Ethan couldn't accept this price, so he contacted Roy Disney and asked him to find a way to make some trouble and drive down Disney's stock price.

This request also made Roy Disney's face grim, and he felt a sudden pain in his teeth.

Because when all shareholders in a company feel that the company's market value still has room to rise, it's really hard to suppress the stock price. But when I think of how important Ethan is to him...

He gritted his teeth and agreed.

"I'll think of a solution."

"You wait first."

Roy Disney's consent meant that the battle for Walt Disney had come to a stalemate, which was bad news for Ethan Jones, but for Steve Ross...

"Good job, Ron Miller." Steve Ross put down the newspaper with a smile.

He was very satisfied with the counterattack led by his former ally Ron Miller. As long as Ethan Jones could be dragged into the quagmire of the offensive, Ron Miller would have realized his value.

At least, for the entire Avengers, this guy who was not religious, had a weak will, and voluntarily quit was a true superhero.

At the same time, he also turned his gaze to the subordinates in front of him.

"I heard that Nintendo's chip market in Japan was completely taken away by Casio?"

"Yes." The male secretary nodded. "According to Commodor, Casio is also very strange."

"Because according to their plan, they should have continued to erode Nintendo's chip market share in the next three to five years, but who knew... Nintendo would collapse before they even started to make any efforts?"

"More importantly, Nintendo seems to be actively giving up the market."

"Because many of the orders Casio has received now are from merchants that they have never actively contacted. They all got the news from Nintendo and then came."

"Oh - it seems that Nintendo is not a staunch ally of Destiny -" Steve Ross laughed at his subordinate's report, "Yamauchi Hiroshi should have his own plan."

"Although I don't know what their plan is, it doesn't matter, right?"

"As long as we act according to the plan, that's enough."

"Because Yamauchi Hiroshi will cooperate with us."

At this point, Steve Ross paused.

His fingers tapped on the armrest of the chair a few times, making a tapping sound.

After a moment, he said, "Let them do it."

“Now is the right time.”

At this moment, if there were outsiders present, they would definitely be confused by Steve Ross's roundabout words, but for the members of the Avengers...

It all just feels right.

Following the issuance of the combat order, Taito Company held a new product launch conference on July 28, 1979, Tokyo time, to introduce its new game to the Japanese media and the public.

At the press conference, Taidong's designer held up the microphone and said passionately: "This year, we will launch a brand new arcade game to the world, and its name is "Space Invaders"..."

“Yes, this game is indeed inspired by Star Wars, which was developed by Destiny Games, a North American company and represented by Nintendo, but it is a space fantasy from our homeland in Japan…”

"This game is full of various neon elements, whether it's airplanes or bullets, as long as players are willing to discover them, they will definitely find the corresponding shadows in reality..."

"We hope that this game can bring a sense of pride to the people of our great Neon Empire. We want all Neon people to know that when it comes to video games, we Neon is no worse than the United States. In fact, in terms of inspiration, we are even better!"

The day after Taito's new product launch in 1979, Namco also held its own new product launch, hosted by founder Masaya Nakamura himself, who introduced their new game to the world.

"This year, we will launch two arcade games, one is called Galaga and the other is Fall Guys. The former is similar to Star Wars and the latter is similar to Pac-Man. But at the same time, I want to say that although the gameplay is the same, these two games are different from the games produced by Nintendo and Destiny, because our games are better."

"Take Galaga for example. In Star Wars designed by Destiny, the bullets fired by the Millennium Falcon are very simple, but our Galaga is different. When players blow up the enemy's plane, they can get some random ammunition, including explosions, three bursts, arcs, and straight lines."

“In addition, in the game we designed Galaga, there is also a capture gameplay.”

“After a player defeats a boss, the number of planes controlled by the player will change from an odd number to an even number in the next round, doubling the firepower and making the game more exciting.”

“In addition to these, we have also added a two-player mode to this game. When playing alone, you can choose the single-player mode, and when playing with two people, you can choose the two-player mode. In this way, players who like the game can enjoy the fun of the game with their best friends.”

"As Ethan Jones said, the greatest significance of video games is to share happiness with friends around you. He didn't fully do it, but we at Namco have achieved it..."

“Although I cannot guarantee that Namco’s games will satisfy all players, I believe that players in our great Neon Empire will fully support our domestic games!”

"Your support is the driving force of our development!"

"Your support will make us better and better!"

"..."

When Japanese game companies continued to release things similar to the previous products of Destiny Game, Arakawa Minoru in Kyoto suddenly laughed.

"Imanishi Hiroshi! Imanishi Hiroshi!"

"Call Arakawa quickly!"

"tell him--"

"Now, we can continue to put pressure on Ethan Jones!"

"Hahahahaha-"

(End of this chapter)