Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 621 Redstone's Expectations
After Lloyd Bentson Jr. left, Aaron drove from the Universal Studios studio to pick up Jennifer Aniston!

"How's it going? Shouldn't filming for 'Drug Network' start soon?"

Aaron took Jennifer Aniston to the Starlight private yacht at King's Pier, ready to set sail.

"It'll be soon. Filming will start in two months. I heard that Dawn is planning to release it in the spring of the year after next, so there's not much of a rush!"

Jennifer Aniston still has plenty of free time each year, aside from filming one season of Friends.

"Yes, we were originally planning to release it at the end of next year, but Dawn Cinema has no shortage of projects. Anyway, Steven Soderbergh has 'Erin Brockovich' coming out next year."

"Therefore, the release of 'Traffic' was scheduled for the spring of the year after next."

Then, Aaron reached out and touched Jennifer Aniston's thigh. "Wait, when we go out to sea, I'll introduce you to a friend!"

Jennifer Aniston smiled, understanding Aaron's meaning perfectly well. "What, so interested?"

"I've met Penelope Cruz, that sexy Hispanic Latina woman!"

As she spoke, Jennifer Aniston unzipped Aaron's jacket.

"Hey," sensing the woman's movement, Aaron pulled the car over to the side of the road, grabbed her, and kissed her...

New York, General Electric headquarters building, Sumner Redstone visits the world's number one CEO, Jack Welch;
General Electric, under Jack Welch's leadership, has now not only topped the Fortune list, but also the Forbes 500 list and the BusinessWeek 1000 list!
However, with the surge in internet technology stocks, Microsoft's market capitalization has now surpassed that of General Electric, making it the new world's number one.

Sumner Redstone's visit was to discuss the future of NBC, as General Electric is not currently paying much attention to NBC's development.
But Viacom now desperately needs a nationwide wireless broadcasting network to expand its content distribution channels.

"Oh, Viacom wants to acquire NBC?"

Jack Welch met with Sumner Redstone in his office, and there was little surprise about Viacom's desire to acquire NBC.

Previously, Disney and Dawn had both approached NBC with the intention of acquiring it, but unfortunately, those two companies acquired ABC and CBS respectively!

Sumner Redstone nodded. "That's right. Merging between television stations and film groups is a current trend; it allows them to better complement each other."

"Of the seven major Hollywood film studios, only three are still lacking the support of major television networks. Viacom's future should not be like this."

Currently, NBC is the only force not belonging to a Hollywood media group. Sumner Redstone doesn't think Scraglin has no ambitions. As for Sony, a Japanese company, it certainly doesn't qualify!

Jack Welch smiled. "But NBC has been doing quite well these past few years. Our flagship series, *Friends*, produced by Dawn Television, was our first broadcast and remains a signature show."

"The ratings for MSNBC News, which partners with Microsoft, and CNBC, which partners with Dow Jones, are also steadily increasing."

Why did General Electric sell NBC?

Sumner Redstone was prepared. "I know NBC's current situation, and Viacom doesn't necessarily need control of the network." "We can accept taking a partial stake in NBC, being responsible for content production, while Bob Wright remains in charge of managing NBC!"

Bob Wright is currently the vice chairman of General Electric and the CEO of NBC.

Viacom knew that acquiring NBC would be very difficult, after all, General Electric, as the world's number one company, was not short of money;

This is why neither Disney nor Dawning were able to acquire NBC, because neither of them wanted NBC to be out of their hands. GE's approach was to sell a portion of its shares but retain control of the company.

Viacom certainly can't compare to Disney or Dawn, so it has to settle for second best and first acquire a portion of NBC's shares to achieve a deep partnership!

Jack Welch thought for a moment, "This collaboration is quite good. The seven major Hollywood studios have the strongest content production capabilities. With Hollywood's support, NBC can significantly improve its content offerings."

"I will discuss this with Bob Wright. GE is very willing to co-operate NBC with Viacom."

Previously, Jack Welch hoped to co-manage NBC with Disney or Dawn, but both companies wanted to retain control of NBC, and the cooperation fell through.

Now, Viacom has arrived, and they seem quite willing to cooperate?
The meeting between Sumner Redstone and Jack Welch did not garner much confidence; after all, it was clear from the perfunctory tone that Viacom was somewhat wishful thinking.

Clearly, with NBC's ratings rising, GE is no longer in a hurry to rely on Hollywood!
Meanwhile, as the U.S. dot-com bubble inflated wildly, Warren Buffett, the god of investment, insisted on not buying technology stocks.

Berkshire Hathaway's stock price plummeted, and Warren Buffett seemed to be facing his darkest hour.

Even Time magazine openly humiliated Warren Buffett on its cover: "Warren, what's wrong with you?"

"Warren Buffett is one of the biggest bears on internet stocks, but it seems he was wrong this time."

Starting this year, internet stocks seem to be the only hot stocks, while Coca-Cola? It sounds like a term from the last century!

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett's mid-year speech at Sun Valley was also reposted:

"In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long term, it's more like a weighing machine. Ultimately, the weighing machine wins, but in the short term, it's determined by the voting chips."

"However, its voting mechanism is extremely undemocratic. Unfortunately, as you know, it does not certify voting eligibility!"

On the yacht "Starlight" off the coast of Los Angeles, Aaron sat on the sofa, flipping through the newspaper in his hand. "Berkshire Hathaway's stock price has actually dropped to just over $52000 per share?"

It's worth noting that at its peak at the beginning of the year, Berkshire Hathaway was worth over $81000 per share. Tianhai Fund owned 10000 shares of Berkshire Hathaway, and the market value of those shares dropped directly from over $8 million to over $5 million!

However, Warren Buffett's concerns about a tech bubble are quite valid. The fact that almost all American stock market investors are currently enthusiastic about tech stocks is certainly dangerous.
The reason why Time magazine dared to be so pessimistic about Warren Buffett is undoubtedly due to the merger of Time Warner and AOL.

(End of this chapter)