Heads Up Hollywood

On the way back, Dunn invited Barry Diller into his car.

"Last year, Redstone asked me to put "Six Feet Under" on Showtime. Since then, I have made up my mind that one day, I will let him pay the price in blood!"

Tang En's face was calm, but his eyes revealed unshakable sharpness and firmness.

Barry Diller said: "The cancellation of the cooperation with Blockbuster will bring some losses to New Universal, but... whether it is a blessing or a curse, it is not certain."

Tang En smiled slightly, showing a row of white teeth, "Perhaps Lei Shidong overestimated Blockbuster's strength, or underestimated Netflix's potential."

Barry Diller shook his head and said, "For now, Netflix has no chance of challenging Blockbuster."

"The larger the size, the greater the inertia. If you want to turn around...you may overturn. Netflix is ​​different. It is light on assets and small in size. It can adjust its strategic direction at any time. The future will be full of changes, which is very important." Tang Eun showed great confidence in Netflix.

Barry Diller raised his eyebrows, and he heard something, "You mean...the video rental industry will follow in the footsteps of the record industry?"

Tang En said: "Affected by Internet downloads, the record industry's market has taken a turn for the worse. Even if Congress has issued a policy to severely crack down on pirated downloads, the development of the Internet should not be underestimated. Now the Internet speed is slow, at most it is to download some music and clarity As long as the Internet speed is improved, the online on-demand business will definitely have a bright future for low-cost adult videos.”

"Internet on-demand? There is no technical threshold, and there is no U-turn problem." Barry Diller shook his head.

Tang En laughed and said: "So, no matter how the new and old channels change, the content remains the same! Controlling the content is equivalent to controlling the source."

Barry Diller's eyes lit up, "You mean... the acquisition of MGM?"

Tang En clenched his fists and said in a deep voice, "If you want to do it, you must do it!"

Barry Diller nodded again and again, "I firmly agree! Even if there is no new Internet channel, the acquisition of MGM is enough to give us more confidence in the fight against Blockbuster. MGM has 4,200 inventory, except Those joint ventures, shared copyrights, and controlled films have reached 2,000. Including our new universal film library, such a large volume is enough to compete with Blockbuster!"

Blockbuster is powerful, but Blockbuster is just a channel.

After being blocked by New Universal and Disney, Blockbuster's rental films will be greatly reduced.

Fans want to watch these films, what should they do?

Just go to Netflix!

Netflix is ​​currently implementing a monthly membership subscription system, where users pay $20 per month to rent and watch movies unlimited times. (The monthly rental fee of $20 is actually very cheap. If you rent a film at Blockbuster, you will have to pay a late payment penalty of $50.)

This is a new model.

Now, Netflix has more than 2 million users, including membership fees and advertisements, with an annual revenue of 620 million U.S. dollars!

Of the US$620 million, half has to pay copyright fees, which will be distributed to major film companies, as well as warehouse rental fees, DVD transportation fees, employee capital and other expenses.

Throughout 2002, Netflix's profit was only more than 34 million US dollars.

Still, that's pretty good.

This emerging model can create profits without burdening the parent company, which is the greatest success. In particular, subscribers are growing rapidly, and the prospects are very bright.

If there is support from New Universal, Disney, and MGM's exclusive film library, will the growth of users be less?

In the previous life, Pepsi did not go bankrupt until 2010.

Now that Dunn has fought against Viacom, he has to push this time forward by a few years!

Natalie, who had been sitting beside Tang En and listening quietly, suddenly spoke at this moment, and said in a soft voice: "Acquiring MGM... But I heard that last year, Sony Pictures was interested in acquiring MGM. , but withdrew because the asking price was too high.”

"Last year? Last year MGM had several hit films such as "Hannibal" and "Legal Blonde". It's not surprising that Kirk Kirkrian was high-spirited. Let's see it again this year? He vomited blood! He must be eager to get rid of the burden of MGM."

Dunn hated Kirk Kerkorian very much.

He is obviously a gambling tycoon, but he chose to go to Hollywood to play movies. As a result, he made a lot of money and disabled MGM, the world's largest film company at that time, directly playing with disabilities.

None of the Hollywood filmmakers had a good impression of Kirk Kerkorian.

Barry Diller thought of something and said, "I'll give Murdoch a call!"

Then, he took out his cell phone.

"Rupert, hehe, you didn't come to the "Lord of the Rings 2" celebration reception?"

Barry Diller's voice is very warm, like an old friend, it is hard to imagine that the two had a fierce conflict ten years ago.

Tang En didn't know what Murdoch said on the other end of the phone. Barry Diller's expression was very calm, and he said with a smile: "Redstone wanted to show "Truth or Dare" on CBS, but I rejected it. You know, although I'm not signed with 20th Century Fox yet, I'm looking forward to "Truth or Dare" being broadcast on FOX, after all, FOX Network and I have some connections."

Tang En has been among the business leaders for a long time, and he has good experience, so he immediately analyzed the meaning of Barry Diller's words.

When great people speak, they are often in the cloud, and the listener must avoid the emptiness and focus on the truth in order to understand the deep meaning.

For example, what Barry Diller said just now-"Truth or Dare", CBS, and FOX are all "fiction", and only "rejection" is "truth".

To put it bluntly, it was Barry Diller who rejected Redstone!

This is sending a signal to Murdoch that New Universal and Viacom are about to go to war!

If News Corporation can remain neutral, New Universal will maintain a cooperative relationship with 20th Century Fox and send "Truth or Dare".

"Okay! No problem... Hehe, that's fine, let's do it like this."

Barry Diller hung up the phone and nodded to Tang En.

Tang En breathed a sigh of relief.

Having a right-hand assistant makes it a lot easier.

After Murdoch is settled, he can make gestures with Lei Shidong in an upright manner.

As for another media giant, AOL Time Warner...

Tang En was not worried.

Now AOL Time Warner is overwhelmed, and news has spread in the industry. In order to solve the deficit problem of huge losses, Time Warner intends to sell its Warner Publishing Group and Warner Music Group...

...

In a blink of an eye, another year.

2003 is here.

With the arrival of various payments at the end of the year, the cash flow on New Global's books exceeded US$2.8 billion.

However, only 1.9 billion U.S. dollars can be used, and the remaining 900 million U.S. dollars have not flowed back to the United States overseas.

This amount of money is far from enough to buy MGM.

But don't worry, you can earn slowly.

New Universal's ability to make money is definitely the best in Hollywood!

Especially when the second season of "American Idol" is broadcast, there will be a lot of money in the account.

Moreover, MGM's acquisition will definitely be very complicated.

Since Kirk Kerkorian publicly stated that he wanted to sell MGM, there have been seven or eight companies asking for prices one after another.

There's Sony Pictures, Paramount, Disney, Time Warner, Lionsgate, Comcast, and even Microsoft and General Electric.

Bidding for MGM must be a long and complicated process, and there is no rush.

However, another acquisition case, after three months of repeated discussions, discussions, and negotiations, finally took shape.

Amazon acquired PayPal, the world's largest online payment platform, at US$20.87 per share, an additional 40.72 million shares, and US$200 million in cash!

The total transaction volume is as high as 1.05 billion US dollars!

Among them, Dunn obtained 27 million shares, accounting for 6% of the total share capital, becoming Amazon's second largest individual shareholder after Jeff Bezos.

Elon Musk took $120 million in cash and 3.83 million shares of Amazon because he wanted to be busy starting a business.

Since then, following Google, Hasbro, Apple, MGA Toys, Legendary Pictures, Space, and the Scott Swift Angel Foundation, Twain has gained an additional independent director status.

Amazon Independent Director!

However, New Universal and Hollywood are concerned about another transaction three days after the completion of this transaction!

New Universal spent US$180 million in cash to acquire Amazon's IMDb film and television information website! (Amazon is very poor and has no cash flow. The $200 million in cash for the acquisition of Paypal is actually this money.)

After the acquisition is completed, IMDb will be integrated into Netflix to provide a wealth of information for Netflix's video rental.

Members of Netflix will also automatically enjoy the services of IMDbPro members.

As soon as this news came out, the entire entertainment circle was shocked!

At the celebration reception of "The Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers" that day, Tang En challenged Lei Shidong face to face, refused to back down, and faced each other with big swords.

Now, New Global Firewire has acquired IMDb, the most professional, complete and authentic film and TV information website in the world, and integrated it into Netflix, which has clearly explained the problem.

Tang En made a move!

He is increasing his investment in Netflix's business, and he is challenging Blockbuster, the leader in the video rental market!

Perhaps in terms of the number of assets and stores, Netflix is ​​far inferior to Blockbuster.

However, Netflix represents a new force!

Just like the corporate slogan of New Universal Group: "New Order, New Model, New Power, New Universal, New Hollywood!"

Netflix uses the Internet as the medium, based on the monthly subscription of members, guided by the professional information of IMDb, and featuring the exclusive rental rights of New Universal and Disney film and television works, and has formed a series of complete film rental chains.

Challenge Blockbuster!

Didn't Lei Shidong want to use Blockbuster to suppress Tang En?

OK.

Dunn doesn't mind stirring up the flames of war!