Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 322 Ronald Meyer

"Yes, Sophie!"

Aaron leaned back on the sofa, breathing rapidly, his hands resting on Sophie Marceau's chestnut hair.

A moment later, Aaron released his grip, and Sophie Marceau looked up and gave Aaron a reproachful look!
She then stood up, picked up the whiskey beside her, took a sip, and smoothed her messy hair. "You seem a little distracted?"

Aaron chuckled and reached out to rub the woman a few times. "No, it's just that I've been busy lately."

"Alright, you must have other things to do here, right?"

As Sophie Marceau spoke, she straightened Aaron's clothes.

"That's right, I also made plans with other people!"

Half an hour later, Sophie Marceau left the private room to meet with some Hollywood actors;
Meanwhile, CAA's president, Ronald Meyer, went to Aaron's private room.

"Long time no see, Ronald!"

Ronald Meyer gave a wry smile. "Yes, it's been a long time."

The former CAA assistant agent is now a Hollywood entertainment mogul whose influence is beyond the reach of most!

"Any news on Michael Ovitz and Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s offers for the MCA?"

Aaron didn't care about Ronald Meyer's inner thoughts; he only cared about how much intelligence the other party possessed.

According to Michael Ovitz, the price should be comparable to the acquisition price Panasonic paid back then.

According to him, Matsushita's original intention was also to recover the principal from back then!

Ronald Meyer shrugged. "As you know, Panasonic has also incurred huge losses in its business with Universal Pictures."

"Panasonic is not like Sony; its Japanese headquarters does not want to continue investing funds."

Aaron frowned and looked at the other person. "This information is not enough, Ronald."

Ronald Meyer took a sip of his drink, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Edgar Bronfman Jr. spoke to me privately."

"If Seagram can acquire MCA, he will hand over the presidency of Universal Pictures to me!"

"Edgar Bronfman Jr. spoke to you alone?" Aaron tapped his fingers. "Does that mean he kept it from Michael Ovitz?"

“Not bad,” Ronald Meyer nodded.

Aaron glanced at Ronald Meyer. "What does Edgar Bronfman Jr. mean? Does he no longer trust Michael Ovitz?"

“I don’t know the specifics,” Ronald Meyer thought for a moment, “but I suspect Michael Ovitz’s asking price is too high;”

"He demanded a high fee for helping Edgar Bronfman Jr. take the helm at MCA Universal, especially after Michael Eisner of Disney continued to extend invitations to him. Michael Ovitz seems to be getting more and more brazen!"

Thanks to lobbying from Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz repeatedly increased Edgar Bronfman's compensation.

Aaron understood. Edgar Bronfman Jr. was planning to use someone else's connections and then cut ties with Michael Ovitz once Scragran successfully acquired MCA Universal!

"Ha, Scragran might not necessarily succeed?"

Aaron was confident in himself too. "So, Michael Ovitz is currently helping Seagram acquire MCA while also maintaining constant contact with Michael Eisner of Disney."

"If Skagerman's acquisition of MCA fails, Michael Ovitz will immediately accept the position of president of Disney!"

Even if Ronald Meyer hadn't said it, Aaron knew this was Michael Ovitz's way out.

Aaron nodded. The situation was indeed quite complicated.

"Moreover, now that Sugon and Seagram are bidding for Panasonic's MCA, based on my guess about Michael Ovitz, he doesn't actually think Seagram will beat Sugon!"

As Ronald Meyer spoke, he glanced at Aaron Anderson, noticing that the pressure from Dawn was eroding Michael Ovitz's confidence.

This is why Michael Ovitz unintentionally neglected Edgar Bronfman Jr., while frequently meeting with Michael Eisner.

"If that's the case, then why didn't Edgar Bronfman Jr. tell you any specific details about Seagram's acquisition of MCA, even though he started to trust you?"

Aaron inquired, but he didn't seem to care much about Michael Ovitz or Ronald Meyer.
Aaron is now interested in Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s true thoughts.

Ronald Meyer shook his head. "The acquisition was mainly led by Michael Ovitz. Edgar Bronfman Jr. just invited me to join Universal!"

"Oh, by the way, there's another piece of news you might be interested in."

Ronald Meyer cautioned that he knew he needed intelligence to satisfy the other side.

Aaron looked up. "What news?"

"A representative from Crédit BNP Paribas, François Gilles, the manager in charge of MGM operations, visited CAA a few days ago;"

"I discussed MGM's future with Michael Ovitz, and Bill Haber and I were both involved."

"According to Crédit BNP Paribas, the idea is to sell MGM and realize its value. In the past two years, the performance of MGM's works has improved, and MGM's value has recovered a lot!"

Crédit BNP Paribas had considered breaking up MGM/United Artists back then, but Michael Ovitz dissuaded them at the time.

Michael Ovitz wanted to control MGM behind the scenes through CAA, but found that he could not avoid the antitrust investigation no matter what, and CAA could only own a maximum of 10% of MGM's shares.

Therefore, CAA specifically helped MGM/United Artists invite Frank Marcuso and John Culli to manage the company;
It also led to CAA and MGM signing a package deal agreement.

Aaron nodded. "MGM's *Stargate*, released this year by Carlock, did well at the box office, and next year they have a blockbuster like *GoldenEye*."

"It's definitely much better than during the Kirk Koccorian era, and MGM mainly acts as a distributor, not taking all the profits."

"It's understandable that Crédit BNP Paribas wants to sell MGM to raise cash while the time is right!"

“Oh,” Aaron understood, then looked at Ronald Meyer, “Michael Ovitz wouldn’t be treating MGM/United Artists as a backup plan for MCA, would he?”

“Yes, Michael Ovitz mentioned to us that if Seagram’s acquisition of MCA fails, then he can only suggest that Edgar Bronfman Jr. acquire MGM/United Artists.”

Ronald Meyer shrugged. "The Hollywood film studios are all already owned. If Seagram fails to acquire MCA Universal, he won't have any other options left but MGM/United Artists!"

Aaron smiled. "That's actually a very good idea."

“Acquiring MGM/United Artists is a good thing, at least it has enough heritage and a big enough reputation.”

(End of this chapter)