Heads Up Hollywood

Now Tang En is shouldering two major tasks - the box office of "Unsinkable" and the rise of STA TV network.

In comparison, STA TV network is more important!

No matter how famous "Unsinkable" is and how big the investment is, it is just a movie. Even if the box office fails, it won't have much impact on Twain's film industry. Marvel Universe, Pirate Alliance, Transformers...these are all enough to support the future of the film industry.

But the STA TV network is different. During this sensitive time period, if it is not handled properly, it is very likely that Tang En's entire TV industry will be wiped out!

This is by no means alarmist.

In 2001, Time Warner was in the crisis of merging with AOL, and the two shareholder meetings were arguing endlessly. The Viacom Group led by Redstone is the undisputed most influential media giant in the world today!

Even Disney's market capitalization is less than half of Viacom's!

Twain had the guts to challenge Michael Eisner and Disney, but in the face of Redstone's absolute strength, he was not qualified to fight at all.

Viacom Group is too powerful!

The four major business sectors, Cable TV Network (Viacom headquarters), CBS Group, Paramount Pictures, and Blockbuster, each of which is an industry giant, except for Paramount, the other three are industry leaders status.

Blockbuster, in particular, has almost monopolized the video tape and DVD rental market in the United States.

Tang En dared to challenge Disney because Disney's development direction had little to do with Tang En Pictures' business, but Viacom was different.

Blockbuster alone could deal a fatal blow to Twain Pictures in the film industry.

If the STA TV network wants to rise, Viacom's SHO TV network and Time Warner's HBO TV network are two mountains that must be overcome.

Time Warner is too preoccupied to ignore.

But Viacom, we must attach great importance to it!

Especially the old guy Lei Shidong, once he got angry, the whole Hollywood was filled with horror.

Now the most outstanding manager in Hollywood, everyone knows it is Disney's Michael Eisner. But before Michael Eisner, who was the best manager in Hollywood?

It's Barry Diller!

Where is Barry Diller now?

Driven away by Lei Shidong!

Barry Diller, who once shocked Hollywood, managed WMA, ABC, Paramount, and founded the Fox TV network, has now moved to the Internet and played e-commerce, completely bidding farewell to the media field.

I can't afford it, I can only hide!

So in front of Lei Shidong, Tang En didn't dare to play with fire like he did with Michael Eisner, and had to deal with it carefully.

Fortunately, this old guy is 78 years old this year. He is far from the wisdom of the past. He has become groggy. The management of the company has become more and more chaotic.

So much so that his sons and daughters had serious differences with him.

...

May 27th is Mr. Summer Redstone's 78th birthday.

However, on this day, the Lei Shidong family did not hold a big banquet, but held a private banquet for their own family.

On May 30th, we recruited guests and received blessings from elites from all walks of life.

The pomp is huge!

Tosca Musk was appointed by Tang En as the vice president of Tang En Pictures. In addition to being in charge of Sillywood Animation, he was mainly responsible for the communication with Viacom Group, that is, Redstone himself.

She does a good job.

Tang En received an invitation card with Mr. Redstone's autograph on it: "I sincerely invite you to my birthday party. —— Summer M. Redstone."

For such a formal occasion, Dunn definitely couldn't bring a messy female companion. Fortunately, Harvard's summer vacation has begun, and Natalie is by her side.

"What? You're not going?" Dunn looked at Natalie in surprise.

Natalie pouted and said, "How do I go? It's not a Hollywood-style party, it's a formal business occasion. Most of the participants are old guys, and the youngest must be forty or fifty years old. I am a little Girl, a primary school student, how embarrassing it is to go?"

Tang En said disapprovingly: "What elementary school student, you are a student of Harvard University! The best institution of higher learning in the world!"

Natalie said weakly: "In the entertainment industry, my academic qualifications are of course proud, but on that occasion, how can I have the nerve to talk about academic qualifications? Do you know that Mr. Lei Shidong was admitted to Harvard at the age of 17? You know When he was at Harvard, he served the U.S. Army, and a war hero!"

"Ah? So powerful?" Tang En's eyes widened.

Natalie sat on the bed and angrily threw the five or six dresses around her on the floor, "I'm just an actress who doesn't understand anything, in front of those big people, if I say the wrong thing, it would be so embarrassing ?I dont go!"

Tang En pondered for a long time, then heaved a long sigh.

Of course he understood what Natalie was thinking.

Where is she afraid of embarrassing herself?

She was afraid of saying the wrong thing and losing face to her boyfriend.

The latest "Forbes" magazine has announced that Tang En's assets have reached 8 billion US dollars, ranking 37th among the world's richest people. Although it is far behind Summer Redstone, who ranks 18th and has a net worth of more than 14 billion U.S. dollars, it is enough to shine in the entire banquet.

It is conceivable that Tang En will definitely be the focus of this banquet. As a girlfriend, Natalie will definitely have to deal with many wives and wives.

Natalie, who is under 20 years old, will definitely struggle to cope with such an occasion.

Once something goes wrong, it will be a big joke.

"It's because I'm not strong enough." Tang En sat on the edge of the bed, hugged Natalie into his arms, and sighed with emotion.

Natalie shook her head, leaned into his arms, and said softly: "No, you are only 23 years old. Even Bill Gates, at your age, cannot be so successful. In my heart, you are already Strong enough."

Tang En shook his head, mocking himself, "I'm still too weak. If I were the richest man in the world, heh, even if you said something wrong, even if you were an actress, so what? Huh! The whole world depends on your face! "

Natalie pursed her lips and laughed, "Then you should work hard and become the richest man in the world as soon as possible!"

Tang En smiled a little strangely, "You have so much confidence in me?"

Natalie raised her head, bit her mouth and said, "It doesn't matter, anyway, I will work hard. In school, I minored in etiquette, language, and social theory... Anyway, there are a lot of them. When I graduate from college, I will definitely be outstanding, I am confident!"

Tang En was angry and funny, "You don't have confidence in me, you have confidence in yourself!"

"Anyway, I'm an actress, but... I want everyone not to look at me as an actress." Natalie said firmly.

Tang En nodded solemnly, "Let's work hard together!"

...

In terms of social etiquette, Tang En is definitely not as good as Natalie.

But the status and wealth are there, these are Tang En's confidence.

It's like at a class reunion, if a person with status and wealth says a few wrong words, everyone will not laugh at them at all, but think that this person is living a very real life; but if it is the worst and poorest person who makes a joke , even if everyone is friendly on the surface, they must be full of contempt in their hearts.

In the 21st century, wealth is the greatest capital!

Tosca Musk acted as Tang En's girlfriend and attended Lei Shidong's birthday party.

She was only 27 years old this year, with blond hair and blue eyes, fair skin and long legs. She appeared with her arms around Tang En's arm, and she looked like a golden girl.

But the more this kind of match, the more uncomfortable Tang En felt.

"The whole world knows my girlfriend is Natalie Portman, don't get me wrong."

Tang En said calmly.

Tosca Musk smiled awkwardly, and the way he held his arm was not so intimate, and he followed him step by step, with a little more of a secretary's posture.

Her job tonight is mainly the responsibility of the secretary. She whispered in Tang En's ear: "Nine o'clock on the left is Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation!"

Tang En turned his head slightly, and sure enough, in that direction, he saw newspaper tycoon Murdoch and his Chinese wife communicating with an old man of about the same age.

"The person talking to him is the godfather of cable television—John Malone! He is well-known in the industry, even Mr. Redstone and Mr. Murdoch must have enough respect for him."

Dunn was a little surprised by Tosca Musk's words. He couldn't help but look a few more times, and asked in a low voice, "Why haven't I heard of it?"

"He has retired." Tosca Musk shook his head, "But his business philosophy has influenced a generation."

"oh?"

"His sentence is very classic. He said that high profits mean high taxes, so the strategic way to build a giant company is to use all possible conditions to reduce statement profits and taxes, and use pre-tax cash flow to support internal development and acquisitions. In fact , Comcast and Viacom have adopted such a business philosophy to develop into today's scale."

Hearing this, Tang En couldn't help but opened his eyes wide.

Great summary!

Wall Street usually uses earnings per share to value companies, so for a long time, the biggest goal of listed companies is to make profits.

Until the advent of the Internet age.

But John Malone's point of view was decades ago.

Why is Amazon growing so fast? In addition to the fundamentals of e-commerce, this method of avoiding profits and reducing taxes is adopted, and all methods and cash are used to expand the company's business.

For decades, Amazon shareholders have not seen a penny of dividends!

As a result, the company's market capitalization approached trillions of dollars.

Tang En swallowed and nodded dully, "This man is amazing!"

Tosca Musk gave Tang En a strange look, "You really don't know John Malone? STA Television Network was originally a company under his TCI Group."

"Huh?" Tang En's eyes widened.

Tosca Musk suddenly realized, and patted his head, "Yes, the STA TV network is too small, and he had the idea of ​​quitting at that time. In 1997, he sold the Teleport business for 11 billion US dollars In 1998, it sold the Sprint/PCS business for $9 billion. In 1999, it bought General Instruments to Motorola at a price of more than $11 billion. Later, the main business of TCI was also sold to AT\u0026T for $48 billion. , STA TV network... is too inconspicuous."

Tang En took a breath.

Only then did he realize how insignificant the business of the STA TV network he was following closely was in the eyes of those big shots!

He bought the STA TV network for only $170 million.