Rebirth of America, this is my time

While Cornelis was opening the mysterious note, at Paramount headquarters in California, Chairman Barry Diller was also looking through documents submitted by his subordinate Michael Eisner.

As all parties know, Sega wants to reach a cooperation agreement with Paramount and use Paramount's video game patents to sell Neon's popular games to North America.

And perhaps because everyone has the same father, Sega's offer is very wild. They are willing to give up 7% of sales as Paramount's agent in exchange for Paramount's distribution. At the same time, they also hope to send Ramon was able to share all the costs of the release with them.

When this fact emerged, Barry Diller's eyebrows immediately rose.

Because a simple calculation can reveal that Sega's offer is not sincere.

According to Sega's algorithm, assuming that "Godzilla" sells 10,000 units in North America and earns 200 million in revenue, the commission attributed to Paramount will only be 14 million.

No matter who evaluates it, they will feel that this income is pitifully small. What is even more speechless is that Sega said that both parties will also bear the sales expenses in half. Assuming that the expense is 10 million, after deducting 5 After one million, the real profit belonging to Paramount was only nine million.

A 200 million project with a profit of only 9 million?

A profit margin of four point five is an insult to Paramount!

And if calculated according to the cost-benefit principle, a five million effort would result in a nine million profit?

In the sales agency business, this is simply stupid behavior!

After all, the main business of their Hollywood giants is agency distribution!

In this ecosystem, their water withdrawals are at least 20%!

"Is Sega crazy?"

"Do they think the earth revolves around them?"

Barry Diller casually threw away the document in his hand, tapped the table with his right index finger, and said, "If possible, I really want to communicate with Sega up close now."

"One On One!"

"I wonder, in their eyes, do I, Barry Diller, look like that much of a fool?"

"ah?!!!"

"Dong dong dong!"

Barry Diller banged the table loudly.

Michael Eisner, who witnessed all this with his own eyes, was smiling.

He could understand his boss's mood at the moment.

Because Barry Diller's achievements in the business field are really remarkable.

At the age of twenty-three, he had become the vice president of development of the American Broadcasting Corporation. At the age of twenty-four, he proposed the concept of TV miniseries and TV movies, and used novel dramas to defeat his peers. At the age of thirty-two, he He was invited to join Paramount and became its chairman and CEO.

Then...

In television, he produced "Laverne \u0026 Shirley" and "Taxi."

In terms of movies, he invested in "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease".

When his record is extremely powerful, it is normal to look at people through his nostrils!

In this case, when Barry Diller discovered that Sega was not sincere...

Swearing is the norm.

Gentle, that's an accident.

"Sega may have made such an offer because they think we are full of desire for the video game industry?"

Michael Eisner began to help his boss find the reason for Sega's madness.

These words made Barry Diller roll his eyes at him.

"Humph——" the middle-aged man said through his nose: "If you want, you have to give up the profit?"

"If that were the case, there wouldn't be any hard business to do in the world!"

"Michael, you have to know that the more a person desires, the more he will pursue it!"

The boss's dissatisfied words made Michael Eisner nod repeatedly.

After thinking for two seconds, he added for Sega: "Barry, there is another possibility. The failure of "Jack the Ripper" made Sega think that we at Paramount do not have the ability to develop video games?"

"So, when we have the license for video games, if we want to maximize the effectiveness of this patent, the best way is to represent the game?"

"And now, the most suitable game for agents is "Godzilla"?"

"..." Barry Diller was speechless and shook his head: "Oh, Michael, we at Paramount don't have the ability to develop video games? Do you believe this?"

"The failure of Jack the Ripper has nothing to do with the quality of the game itself."

"It's just that the public opinion trend after the game was released was not good for us, and Ethan Jones officially announced his work during the launch of the game, which attracted a large number of people's attention."

"But even so, we have gained a lot!"

"So, your guess is not valid!"

Although Michael Eisner had achieved two goals in just a few minutes, not only was he not angry, but he was looking at the Boss with a smile.

Staring at the angry face, Michael Eisner said: "Barry, if you think the two guesses just now are not true, then it can only prove one thing. Sega's current behavior was instructed by certain people. Those people agreed with Sega to do this, so Sega dared to do it..."

To the average person, Michael Eisner's words may seem a bit esoteric.

But after hearing such words, Barry Diller suddenly became serious.

He knew what Michael Eisner meant.

The people this guy is talking about are actually their parent company, Paramount——

Gulf and Western Industries.

The history of Gulf and Western Industries can be traced back to the Michigan Insurance Leverage Company in the 1930s. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, it was officially established in 1956.

The company's initial business projects were manufacturing and resource extraction, but everyone knew that the money earned from industry would never be as much as from finance. Therefore, starting in 1958, a man named Charles Bu After Ludorn's entrepreneurs officially took over the company, they have been running wildly in the investment industry. If you have to describe it, their operating methods are very similar to Berkshire Hathaway.

The only difference is that Warren Buffett, the boss of Berkshire Hathaway, plays value investing, while Gulf and Western Industries controlled by Charles Bludorn plays something similar to Wolf King Carl Icahn. The kind of diversification that involves large-scale acquisitions is just a more modest approach.

The specific operation method is very simple. Find a good company to acquire, control it and try to operate it. If they can make a profit, they will hold it for a long time. If it is difficult to make a profit, they will sell the valuable assets of the company. Sell ​​in pieces or combine to find lots of cash.

Because only in this way can they obtain new capital and continue to acquire other companies.

When a complete set of processes emerged clearly, their original purpose of acquiring Paramount and Sega became obvious. These two companies were high-quality assets that were underestimated at the time. As long as they can be revitalized, they can obtain a large amount of money. At the same time, movies and arcades represent huge cash flows. Once the rescue is successful, they will be able to provide more acquisition capital to the Gulf and Western industries.

This is also true. The emergence of video games made Gulf and Western Industries feel that Sega had explosive potential, and Paramount's turnaround also made Gulf and Western Industries see the beauty of beauty.

When the main businesses of Paramount and Sega were related to entertainment, Gulf and Western Industries wanted to merge them directly and re-list them in order to better make money.

But before they could turn their idea into reality, they just found the heads of the two companies and had a brief talk with them, and the whole thing instantly reached a deadlock. Regardless of whether it was Paramount or Sega, both felt that Gulf and Western Industries' proposal was good, but the two sides were full of differences on the specific matters of the merger.

Barry Diller, who controls Paramount, believes that Paramount is a globally renowned brand, so after the merger, the new company must still be called Paramount. Sega, on the other hand, feels that they are the boss in the entertainment industry because they can sell arcade machines around the world. Even if they want to merge with Paramount, they still have to take the initiative.

When these disputes arise, the merger cannot proceed.

But even so, the matter is still not over, because...

"The offer from Gulf and Western Industries gave Sega the idea of ​​eating Paramount."

"At the same time, Paramount also wants to include Sega and fully digest it, because they feel that this will allow them to better carry out overseas business, such as movie distribution."

"After all, in terms of overseas development, Paramount is indeed not as good as Sega."

“Especially in terms of the neon market.”

"When Paramount and Sega had mutual ideas, the merger was at an impasse..."

When Ron Miller told him the information he knew, Cornelist's eyes widened when he read the contents of the paper. Although he knew that Paramount and Sega had a bad relationship, and he also knew that Paramount wanted to Annexing Sega, but he never thought that these two companies were incompatible?

And when Sega and Paramount have the idea of ​​annexing each other, how should they cooperate now?

With their own agendas, they can't cooperate at all!

Because bringing the game to North America is not only a cooperation for them, but also a test for the parent company!

If Sega prevails in the cooperation, it means that they will take the initiative in the merger, and their parent company Gulf and Western Industries will feel that Sega may become a future group card.

vice versa.

If Paramount prevailed, Gulf and Western leaders would feel that Paramount had won the merger and that Barry Diller would become chairman of the new company.

When this confrontation occurred, Cornelis knew that there was a lot to be done in this case!

For example, when Paramount rejected Sega's unsolicited offer and put forward its own demands, Sega, which felt that the demands were too much, could find other partners.

They can do it themselves!

Because there are currently a total of six companies in North America that can undertake distribution. They are Philips, Atari, Destiny Games, Paramount, MGM and Disney...

etc!

Are there six companies in North America that can handle distribution?

Does this include Atari?

Thinking of this, Cornelis' expression suddenly changed!

"Ron..." He called Ron Miller's name, "Do you think the reason Steve Ross asked me to restrain myself was because he wanted to get involved in this business?"

Those words made Ron Miller laugh.

"Oh Cone, have you finally come to your senses?"

"If Warner can cooperate with Sega, their game business can reach another level."

"And they can still escape from future encirclement and suppression."

"I think you can understand what I mean?"

Cornelis certainly knows what Ron Miller means!

Because Atari is the only one who needs Sega's games the most right now!

When Steve Ross wanted to use the garbage sea tactic to directly destroy the North American game market, his desire for the video game industry was visible to the naked eye!

In this case, he must have thought about how to restore the North American people's confidence in the entire video game industry after destroying the entire North American game market.

Since this thing is a competition for the future, Steve Ross can't say it, and it's impossible for anyone else to ask, so everyone doesn't know, but now...

Ah--

Steve Ross is simply evil!

If this guy wants to cooperate with Sega, then he must be thinking that it is too difficult to reshape a country's market, so introducing imported games can seize the opportunity during the market reconstruction period!

After all, what they want to destroy is not the global video game market!

While North America is being defeated, neon, which is developing wantonly, will definitely be thriving!

After the Destiny game was defeated and the North American people lost trust in local games, quickly filling the gap with foreign games was the best solution.

And what if some companies have introduced foreign games to North America before this?

Then it will be easier for them to gain the trust of the North American people!

This trust can allow them to obtain a large amount of revenue in a short period of time. At the same time, this persistent saving image will make their self-developed games sell better!

As for what to say, Steve Ross is likely to expose his true purpose by doing this?

Ah--

There is no airtight wall in the world, and no one believes that Ethan Jones will always be kept in the dark by them!

In this case, taking the initiative to make money is the way to go!

How can money come from conspiracies and flaws?

When this speculation emerged, Cornelis finally understood why he was so excited when he communicated with Steve Ross that day!

"He doesn't care about the negotiations between Sega and Paramount!"

"Because he knows that the conflicts between the two families prevent them from uniting!"

"He is just afraid that I will come forward on behalf of Philips and reach a cooperation with Sega!"

"Because this will ruin his plan!"

Cornelis's extremely serious scream made Ron Miller laugh, and while he looked pleased, Cornelis asked again: "Ron, I have another question."

"you say."

"I want to know, why is it so difficult to merge Sega and Paramount?"

Cornelis looked serious, "Isn't Gulf and Western Industries their parent company? Why does a parent company need the consent of its branches to do things?"

"Oh...Kone...this question is very simple..."

Ron Miller said with a smile: "Because Gulf and Western Industries is a qualified financial capitalist, the main purpose of their wanton acquisitions is not to split and sell, but to operate for a long time. Only by taking care of these properties, they can We will not encounter more obstacles in future acquisitions..."

"For example, the company they acquired last year was Simmons?"

"Furniture services, industrial manufacturing, and game movies are completely unrelated industries, right? But it is precisely because the employees of the acquired companies know that Gulf and Western Industries is a boss that respects its employees, so those employees will continue to work for them. .”

"And where does the reputation of a good boss come from?"

"Isn't it just the result of patience again and again?"

Cornelis understood.

At the same time, he also knew that there was not much time left for him.

"I'll go back and quote you now!"

"MFxxk!"

"I can't let that bastard Steve Ross succeed!"

The sudden decision made Ron Miller smile.

When he hugged Cornelis goodbye, the raised corners of his mouth were even more difficult to suppress than AK.

Shortly after Ron Miller flew back to Los Angeles, he heard several pieces of news.

1. Paramount President Michael Eisner stated in an interview with the media that they are willing and hope to cooperate with Sega to bring excellent foreign games to the North American continent. However, the two parties have not yet reached a unified agreement on specific details. Consensus, so negotiations are still under way.

However, even if there are major differences between the two parties, Michael Eisner is still confident that he will reach a cooperation with Sega in a short time so that the North American people can feel the charm of "Godzilla" as soon as possible.

2. Atari has taken the initiative to contact Sega and is willing to contribute to the North American sales of Sega games. Atari's CEO stated at a media conference that Neon is the second largest consumer of video games in the world. When the output value of their games continues to soar, simultaneous production becomes inevitable. They are very happy to bring good games from other countries to North America so that the people can enjoy more happiness.

3. Shortly after Atari issued the cooperation invitation, Milowa's CEO took a chartered flight to Los Angeles and had a cordial meeting with Sega's chairman to discuss agency matters. At the same time, Milohua's spokesperson also stated that it is their wish to promote better and faster development of the global electronic game industry. They also believe that this situation is a tomorrow that all gamers want to see, because - —

"Professor Ralph Bell, the pioneer in the video game industry and the inventor of the home console, and Ethan Jones, the most outstanding game designer at the moment, have both made public statements many times, stating that the greatest significance of the existence of video games is to Bring happiness to the people.”

"This is their code of conduct, and it is also our development creed at Milohua..."

When this news appeared in front of Ron Miller in black and white...

Unbridled laughter resounded through the sky.

Looking at the iron-clad reality, he murmured: "Steve Ross..."

"Do you want to monopolize the entire market by yourself?"

"Haha - I'm the one you told me, we'll see!"

Note: ① Gulf and Western Industries is an investment group with a very strange way of operating. Unlike Berkshire Hathaway, which owns insurance business and Carl Icahn’s fund can allocate a large amount of junk bonds, Gulf and Western Industries The cash flow of the company relies on the operating income of the company under its name and the pledge of shares and loans, so it relies heavily on the good operation of the subsidiaries, so the CEOs of each subsidiary have great power. Although the company was dismantled in the last century because the investment model without stable cash cows was too troublesome, in the 1960s and 1970s, they were still very strong in automobiles, auto parts, video games, movies and television , furniture items, and even Comrade Jianguo’s hotel in New York were owned by them for a long time.

PS, I have been discharged from the hospital and everything is fine. Thank you for your blessings and your votes. Thank you very much.