Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 493 A Price Must Be Paid

In fact, Aaron didn't care much about the development of DreamWorks; he was just casually reminding Jeffrey Katzenberg.

DreamWorks' practice of drastically increasing film production costs is not a good start, but Aaron doesn't think the three people at DreamWorks will listen to his advice.

However, it will be enough to make DreamWorks suffer losses a few times!

However, Aaron was genuinely interested in DreamWorks Animation, which was overseen by Jeffrey Katzenberg;
Universal Studios' rapid expansion requires more animated characters to fill the space, and Pixar, as a new animation studio, certainly needs help to compete with the long-established Disney animation studio.

"Aaron, congratulations!"

Suddenly, Edgar Bronfman Jr. came to Aaron's side and said, "Titanic is another phenomenon."

Aaron smiled. "MGM has been doing quite well these past few years, hasn't it?"

Edgar Bronfman Jr. took back the MGM film library from Time Warner and strongly supported MGM's film business.
MGM now has the presence of one of the seven major Hollywood film studios!

"What are your thoughts on DVDs? Viacom plans to invest several hundred million dollars to increase its international Best Buy chain stores to 4000."

"The main business is the rental of videotapes and DVDs."

With the launch of DVD players in the United States last year, Hollywood released more than 600 movie DVDs throughout the year.

For the first time, DVD sales surpassed those of LD (Laser Disc) sales.

Aaron knew that MGM now had a large film library and placed great importance on revenue from videotapes and DVDs.

"Right now, DVD players are still quite expensive. Brands like Panasonic, Sony, and Toshiba sell DVD players for around $1000."

"Other mid-range brand players are also priced above $500, and approximately 35 DVD players were sold in the US last year."

"As for the manufacturers, they supplied 140 million units to dealers last year!"

Aaron smiled and said, "We have to wait. We have to wait for the manufacturers to continue to lower the prices. Videotapes will definitely remain the mainstream of home entertainment for the next two or three years."

After all, over 90% of American households own a VCR!
“Just as I thought,” Edgar Bronfman Jr. sighed inwardly. The entire acquisition of MGM United Artists by the Seagram Group cost nearly $30 billion.
In the past two years, he has also heavily supported MGM's film business, and Seagram has invested a lot. In addition, Seagram is currently acquiring PolyGram, so he is under a lot of pressure.

Aaron smiled, "Sigland is currently acquiring PolyGram, which is a really big deal. After the acquisition is successful, the Sigland Group, which owns MGM and PolyGram, will become even larger!"

In fact, Aaron could guess some of Philips' thoughts. They probably believed that the digital music era was about to replace the traditional record business, so Philips was eager to divest its PolyGram shares to avoid potential risks.

Aaron agrees with this point. The winter for the traditional record industry is indeed not far off. Aaron hasn't been actively expanding Universal Music. He's only interested in acquiring song copyrights. The sales and distribution departments can't be too large!
Just after finishing his conversation with Edgar Bronfman Jr., Aaron suddenly received a call from Edgar Irving.

"What's wrong, Edgar?"

Aaron had a bad feeling.

"There have been some issues in South Korea. Many people are optimistic about Samsung's shares, including Fidelity Group, Bain Capital, HSBC Holdings, Carlyle Group, and TPG Capital (Texas Pacific Group)!"

Aaron frowned. "I've already talked to Lee Kun-hee, and didn't we exchange $3 million in Korean won?" The Korean won has now fallen to about 2000 against the US dollar. At the end of last year, Aaron specifically exchanged 5800 billion won, which is essentially left in South Korea!
"South Korea is currently facing a severe shortage of foreign exchange, and people are lining up to donate their gold jewelry to banks in exchange for US dollars to pay off their debts."

"South Korean companies are now competing fiercely because their prices are very low."

Aaron frowned. "Then let's continue to increase investment in South Korea. If 3 million isn't enough, we'll increase it further."

"Also, arrange a meeting for me with Lee Kun-hee and the head of the South Korean Ministry of Finance. I will fly to Seoul as soon as possible!"

After hanging up the phone, Aaron downed his drink in one gulp. It seemed that without paying some price, it would be difficult to control the South Korean conglomerate.

Exchanging Korean won helps South Korea increase its won exchange rate, since the won can only remain in South Korea!

After repaying $20 billion in loans from last year, Haihua Fund now holds $30 billion in cash, which is profit.
Aaron had intended to use most of the funds to buy Samsung shares, but it seems things haven't gone very smoothly.

Fidelity Investments in Boston is now likely the world's largest asset management group, with a total of $6000 billion in assets under management across all its funds.

TPG Capital, through its subsidiary Newbridge Capital Asia, has just acquired a 48.8% stake in Korea First Bank…

Nighttime, in the bedroom of Villa Belair.

Aaron lay on the bed, stroking Sophie Marceau's long hair, enjoying the lady's services!
Thinking about the situation in South Korea, where President Kim Young-sam's approval rating plummeted due to the financial crisis last year, and he resigned from the presidency at the end of last year.

At the end of last year, Kim Dae-jung of the New Politics National Assembly was elected as the 15th president of South Korea. He is also the first president elected as an opposition candidate since the founding of the country in 1948!

Kim Dae-jung is naturally tasked with cleaning up the mess left by Kim Young-sam. His main objective is undoubtedly to revitalize South Korea's economy, reform the economic system, and do his utmost to prevent the financial crisis from escalating further.

"Hmm..." After a while, Sophie Marceau let out a muffled groan, then climbed onto Aaron's chest, panting heavily!

Is Leonardo DiCaprio's new film, "The King in the Iron Mask," going to be released in the spring?

Sophie Marceau inquired, since "The King in the Iron Mask" was a French-American co-production, with filming primarily taking place in France.

Aaron let out a long breath and reached out to stroke the woman's soft skin. "Yes, the current popularity of 'Titanic' has dramatically increased his fame."

"Riding this wave, the release of 'The Iron Mask King' should be quite successful!"

Moreover, last year's Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, also achieved great success.

The sexy and alluring Sophie Marceau swayed her beautiful body and lazily scratched Aaron's body. "I've been with you for so long, now I have to go back to my country to promote the movie."

Last year, Sophie Marceau returned to France to film a comedy film, "Louis XIV's Mistress," which was released this spring!

Aaron closed his eyes. "I'll be going abroad for a while too..."

(End of this chapter)