Reborn Tycoon Rise

"I will carefully consider the expansion of the park. With such a large sum of money, I need a detailed cost budget and investment analysis report." Xu Zhi paused and said.

"No problem, I will give this report to the boss within three days." Cordanan promised.

Next, Xu Zhi chatted with several heads of other departments and learned about the development of the toy business and hotel business. However, these scales are not very important to the entire Disney company. It is a marginal business, and Xu Zhi doesn't take it too seriously. After all, unless Disney's main business, that is, comics, animation, and movies can be done well, various peripheral businesses will develop.

At present, the most important thing is to build the core of the cultural industry. As long as it becomes famous, it will be the same as the Internet traffic in later generations. There are many ways to monetize it.

After the meeting, Xu Zhi stayed at Disney headquarters for another two days and got a general understanding of the entire Disney situation.

The biggest problem for Disney at present is the lack of innovation, innovation in Disneyland, innovation in the film business, and innovation in the animation business.

Old products have led to poor sales. Even the average number of people entering Disneyland every day has dropped by 15% compared with 10 years ago. Throughout the 1970s, Disney has laid off 20% of its employees. It seems that every time the company's financial revenue and expenditure are irregular, Disney The management resorted to layoffs.

The 1980s entered chaos. Last year, the entire Disneyland Company suffered a loss of US$35 million and a debt of US$1.26 billion. Because in the early 1980s, just after the second oil crisis, the deposit interest rate in the entire United States was as high as 5%, and the loan interest rate was as high as 5%. then more.

The annual interest on the US$1.25 billion loan is as high as US$100 million. The pressure to repay the loan is second only to labor costs. In order to operate the company normally, Disney management often borrows new money to repay old money and provides subsidies here and there.

These are external factors, but there are also many internal factors, especially internal corruption. The accounting team invited by Peter has discovered several cases of corruption. These are all internal causes.

However, Xu Zhi will not participate in the specific management of Disney Company in the future, and these matters should still be the responsibility of the future CEO.

And the candidates for this position have already arrived.

"Boss, let me introduce you. This is the Mike Eisner I told you about. He is currently the head of Paramount's film business." In a five-star hotel in Los Angeles, under the arrangement of Roy Disney Next, Xu Zhi met Mike Eisner, the dictator of Disney in history.

The reason why we arranged it in the hotel is because this is Los Angeles. In addition to having the most celebrities in the United States, it also has the most entertainment reporters. Because Disney has just changed ownership, Xu Zhi’s movements have been receiving media attention, and the person we are meeting now Both were relatively well-known, and once reporters actually photographed him meeting Mike Eisner. Before the matter is determined, if the news of the meeting is exposed, I am afraid there will be a lot of trouble.

"Mr. Eisner, please sit down." Xu Zhi greeted with a smile.

"Thank you!" Mike Eisner also responded politely. Although he has a relatively arrogant personality, he will still show the respect he deserves when facing a super rich man who may also be his future boss.

After the three of them sat down, Xu Zhidao said: "Mr. Eisner, I think you should know the purpose of our meeting today from Roy. I want to know what you think of the current Disney?"

Mike Eisner said: "Mr. Xu, all I know about Disney is some basic information, so I can only do a brief analysis.

Before you acquired Disney, the company had actually been in a state of leaderless chaos. Although Ron Miller, Walt Disney's son-in-law, ostensibly controlled the company, some old forces within were still wary of orders from above. Duplicitous and inconsistent.

In addition, Disney has suffered serious losses and lacked funds over the years, which has caused new investments to fail to keep up with the pace of social development. Both film and animation production have been unsuccessful in these years.

Although Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are still famous, the current audience seems to regard these two characters as memories of a long time ago. Disney has not had any memorable animated characters in the past ten years. And theme parks, the company's main cash flow, are slowly losing popularity. "

"That's a good summary." Xu Zhi smiled and commented. It was obvious that Eisner had done enough homework before coming.

"Then what do you think Disney should do now?" Xu Zhi then asked.

Mike Eisner asked: "There are ways, but it also depends on what kind of determination Mr. Xu has?"

"What do you mean?" Xu Zhi asked.

Mike Eisner said: "Mr. Xu spent US$2.4 billion to acquire Disney, so how much money is he willing to inject into Disney?"

Xu Zhi said: "Then tell me, how should I inject capital?"

Mike Eisner said: "Disney currently has many problems. It needs to reorganize its film and television industry and shoot new movies or remake previous programs. However, investment cannot be made blindly. It needs to be determined based on market research results. How much is needed in this area?" Money depends on the type and number of movies you plan to invest in. It’s hard to say right now.

The sales of film and television peripherals and products are linked to the performance of film and television. If you have enough funds, you can also expand sales channels, move product production lines to Asia, or outsource production to Asian companies, which can also reduce a large part of the cost. the cost of.

As for the most important Disneyland, if Mr. Xu can invest more money, then we need to upgrade the entire park. If not, then we have to wait until the investment in the movie gets a return. "

Xu Zhi asked: "What you said makes some sense, but according to your idea, the key to your success is that I will inject another amount of funds, or the new movie will be successful.

I can clearly say that I can provide the money to invest in movies, but the funds needed for Disneyland need to be earned by Disney itself. So, Mr. Eisner, what do you think the Disney Film and Television Department should do to be successful? "

Mike Eisner said: "There are many factors that determine whether a movie can be successful. The specific type of investment needs to be decided according to the situation of the movie company. Based on Disney's current situation, I think animation movies should be made. This is Disney's strength. The reason why we were unsuccessful in the past was also caused by our lack of understanding of the entire market.

And I know the market very well! "

Roy Disney added next to him: "Boss, Mike is at Paramount and is in charge of film production."

"I know." Xu Zhi nodded.

Eisner was very confident, but he also had capital. In the early 1970s, he turned ABC from losses to profits. In the later half of the year, he switched jobs to Paramount and took charge of the film production department, successfully turning Paramount into a profit. Meng was brought from the bottom of Hollywood to the top.

In addition to his strong management skills, he also has a very good understanding of the film market. The right time and place sent him to the top players in the Hollywood world. However, Eisner's pursuit is extremely high. He is seeking the highest position in the company. , rather than the head of a department.

Xu Zhi smiled and said, "Mr. Eisner, I had a cooperation with Paramount a few years ago. Do you still remember it?"

"I know about it." Mike Eisner nodded and said. He was already one of Paramount's top administrators at the time, and the cooperation between Paramount and Xu Zhi did not attract the attention of the superiors at the beginning until The movie "Home Alone" became a dark horse in 1980, which alarmed Paramount's executives.

It's just that at that time, Xu Zhi just wanted to make a fortune in Hollywood and left. He had no long-term development plans, so he left it alone.

A few days ago, his best friend Roy Disney personally visited him and invited him to serve as CEO of Disney Company. Of course he was excited about this coveted good thing, so he made all the preparations before coming for the interview.

Therefore, it is natural to know Xu Zhi’s previous relationship with Paramount.

Xu Zhidao: "I also have some ideas about movies, so, Mr. Eisner, if you come to work at Disney, other aspects will follow your ideas, but I will also ask Disney to shoot the movies I request. "

"Is it a comedy movie like "Home Alone"?" Mike Eisner asked excitedly. As an industry insider, he knew that if Home Alone was shot by a large American entertainment company, the profits would be huge. It would be amazing, once Disney was able to produce a movie that, while impossible to pay off the company's debt, would be enough to solve most of the company's current financial problems.

"No." Xu Zhi shook his head and said, "Since it is filmed by Disney, it is naturally an animated film. I have also brought a rough plot here for you all to take a look at."

After speaking, Xu Zhicong took out two documents from the briefcase beside him and handed them to Roy Disney and Mike Eisner respectively.

""Beauty and the Beast"" The two took the file and saw the diagram on the first page at first glance.