novelraw Chapter 249
Chapter 249
The current CEO of Vivendi is Jean-Marie Messier, a 44-year-old Frenchman. His greatest achievement is to develop a water treatment company with a history of more than 100 years into the current large media group through one transaction after another.
It is obvious that if Vivendi successfully acquires the Seagram Group, it will annex Universal, one of the six major Hollywood companies managed by Edgar Bronfman Jr., and form a transnational behemoth.
Ax was not curious about how Josie got this gossip, he only cared about its authenticity and the value represented by this transaction.
100 billion, 200 billion, or 300 billion?
Mr. Messier's approaching the city is a good opportunity for them to make a lot of money.
Josie shook the champagne in her hand, but didn't drink it, "My informant told me that they will complete this transaction by exchanging shares. Edgar Bronfman Jr. is not very smart, but The old Bronfman is not a fool, he will definitely grasp the mentality of the French who are eager to expand and must be Universal, and bite off a piece of meat from Vivendi."
The Seagram Group has been going downhill in recent years.
In particular, Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s several scandalous operations made him a Hollywood tycoon, but he lost the family's pillar industry, and the series of bad decisions he made after he entered Universal also made the family Assets shrunk further.
On the French side, the ambition to build a world-class media empire cannot be curbed. They think that they have enough money to advance to Hollywood after the financial crisis in 97. Universal is not the only one contacted by Liudali, but it is the only one that accepts mergers and acquisitions. of a family.
MGM doesn't mind selling itself, but it has already fallen out of the ranks of the six giants, and the non-performing assets alone are enough to drag it down.
So Jean-Marie Messier and Edgar Bronfman Jr. hit it off.
"I'll take care of the short-selling order, and I've already discussed the short-selling report with Tang." Aix drank the champagne in one gulp, obviously planning to do something big, "Will Tianmu Capital join?"
"I'm afraid Frank is too busy to take care of himself right now." Josie silently glanced at Frank Horton who was not far away. Tianmu Capital, which does not belong to the other party, is not eligible to enter the market in advance.
The reason why Aix was chosen was because the cooperation between the two had been pleasant before and a foundation of trust had been established, and he himself was a shrewd trader.
As for the ambiguity between the two that was played up by the tabloids, neither Josie nor Ax was so naive, thinking that it would be enough to affect a financial war worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Speaking of Vivendi, Josie remembered all the game companies that were framed by Vivendi.
Before that, she asked her assistant Kelly to inquire about it, and found that last year Vivendi had acquired Blizzard, which had launched "StarCraft", and even made Battle.net.
In addition, another first-tier factory, Sierra Mountain, was also acquired at the same time, but it is clear that Vivendi has no plan to experience these companies well, and it began to lay off a large number of employees and close the studio after only one year.
What are you waiting for?
On the same day, Tianyan Network urgently established a brand-new game department, with El Kayser in charge of this business. At the same time, he found a headhunting company to contact the founders and old employees of Xue Leshan and Blizzard, and happily waved the hoe to poach corners.
But that has nothing to do with tonight's party.
Just after talking with Aix, the currently popular New York real estate tycoon brought someone over.
"Oh, Josie, you really killed the audience tonight." The tycoon's tone was exaggerated, with a smile on his face, "Aix, why don't you bring the beautiful girlfriend who accompanied you last time?"
Josie nodded slightly, and replied politely: "Thank you, Donald."
Ax snorted lightly, held the champagne in his hand firmly, and said with a smile: "Donald, you still like to joke so much. Laura is just my female companion, and I am single now."
Many business parties and receptions will require companions to be present, so female companions do not sound particularly ambiguous.
"Oh really? But you look very compatible." Donald complimented deliberately, pointing to the young man beside him and said, "My eldest son insists on working in the real estate industry by himself after graduation, so he won't help me. Hey, I can't persuade him either. I think you young people can have a good chat."
With a smile on his face, Aix dismantled the stage mercilessly: "It's not necessary, after all, I heard that the project of that building is almost finished, what can we talk about?"
Josie didn't want to waste any more time here, and just happened to see Dina Merrill and a middle-aged man arriving together, she took advantage of the opportunity to get rid of the two who were still bickering, and went to greet this top lady as the host.
"Good evening, Dina." Her manner was friendly and polite.
"Hello, Josie, you look so beautiful." Dina Merrill praised Josie and introduced, "This is Stanley, your useless uncle."
Josie immediately said, "Welcome, Uncle Stanley."
"I'm afraid you are the only one here who sincerely welcomes me." Stanley Horton is about fifty years old, bald and fat, "because Frank is always at odds with me."
Josie just smiled and didn't respond.
"Stanley, please shut your mouth if you can't speak." Dina Merrill held Josie's arm. "I just ran into you tonight. I wonder if you are interested in joining the board of directors of the Kennedy Center."
Located in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Center is a nonprofit performing arts institution and national cultural center of distinction.
Dina Merrill is the chairman of the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, and she is also a trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.
This lady is now more than 70 years old, and it is inevitable that she will arrange her funeral affairs. Apart from her huge inheritance of up to 50 billion US dollars, these intangible assets also need to be inherited.
Obviously, Josie, who is related to Dina Merrill and has made a name for herself in Hollywood, is the best candidate.
Josie also readily accepted the proposal.
After a while, Frank finally got away temporarily and came over to talk to his daughter when he had time.
"I heard that you've been busy preparing for a new movie recently." Frank frowned, took the champagne from Josie's hand without a trace, and gave her a glass of apple juice.
"It's not too busy." Josie took the apple juice and glanced at Frank. "At least I still have time to see if my dad will go bankrupt."
Frank snorted lightly, and said, "Don't worry. A few ants are not crushed to death, and I'm still reluctant to go bankrupt."
Josie sipped the apple juice in the glass, frowned slightly and felt that it was too sweet, and only gave Frank a smirk, as if she didn't quite believe her father's words.
Frank was not annoyed, he just took a sip of his wine and asked, "Speaking of which, when did you learn how to play poker?"
"I learned a few tricks from someone during the filming." Josie brought up this topic, and then asked, "Why, so Bronson went home and cried to his father?"
"Haha, it's almost there." Speaking of this, a mocking smile flashed across Frank's face, "The winner will be decided in about half a year, and I will let them kneel on the ground and cry."
Just because of that kind of trash, is it worthy of Xiao to miss his daughter?
Temporarily showing weakness is for the sake of a full-scale counterattack later, not because he really can't do those idiots, and he is just pursuing the maximization of interests.
Hearing what Frank said, Josie felt relieved, but she still said, "I still have some cash here, if you need it, please let me know."
"Thank you, but I can handle it." Frank took a deep look at Josie and smiled, "If I'm really reduced to asking my daughter to borrow money, then I'm afraid I'm not far from bankruptcy—don't Don’t worry, you just keep doing what you want to do.”
What they do is a game of capital.
Qiao Qian's tens of millions is a huge amount of money in the eyes of ordinary people, but it is just a drizzle for this type of private equity fund.
Moreover, using his own or his family's money to end the game is a bad choice only when he has nowhere to go. Frank will never make such a mistake.
Why not give Bronson the control of Tianmu Capital temporarily?
As long as the golden signboard of "Frank Horton" does not fall down, he can establish another sky screen capital at any time.
Besides, those idiots really think that Hollywood money is so easy to make?
Some people think he's using Skyscreen's money to promote his daughter, but they don't see that his daughter is making money for everyone-that's why Bronson and others are a bunch of self-righteous idiots.
Interlaced like mountains.
Moreover, the circle of Hollywood is very special. The top producers dare not boast that their films can make [-]% of their profits.
Anyway, Bronson wants war, so he'll give him war.
...
The next morning, Josie went to the crew of "Dancing Out of My Life" which had just been formed. Director Amy Heckling and Assistant Director Anne Fletcher arranged for the lead actors to have their first script reading.
The final male and female protagonists selected for this movie are Channing Tatum and Jessica Alba. The former is a newcomer who has not yet become famous, while the latter is a youth idol who starred in a hit American drama "Dark Angel". .
So of course, the manager of the youth idol wants to get more roles and treatment for the heroine, but so far it has not been successful.
The producer's intentions are obvious, non-extraordinary treatment is negotiable, and the posters and opening credits stand out, but it is impossible to add drama, the main line of the script is the growth of the male lead.
For this reason, Jessica Alba was sulking for a while, and she couldn't help but regard Channing Tatum as a thorn in her side.
But on the surface, she didn't deliberately make things difficult for him.
Firstly, this is a key work for her transformation, and she hopes more than anyone else that the movie will be successful; secondly, she heard the rumors in the crew that behind Channing Tatum may be the current Hollywood first lady Josie Horton, I really can't afford it.
But when Josie Horton actually appeared in the crew, Jessica Alba knew that those rumors were all groundless, and it was even the stripper who made it up for self-importance.
"Hello, Josie!" The brown-skinned girl greeted Josie very enthusiastically, "I'm so glad you can come. I've watched your movies countless times, and my favorite is Xueer!"
Josie has never refused her enthusiasm for beauties, especially such beauties who fit her own aesthetics.
She smiled and said, "Thank you for your liking, Jessica, I have seen your performance in "One Kiss, You Are Very Talented."
Jessica looked very happy, because she didn't think that Josie had even watched her own romantic comedies, and the smile on her face became even sweeter.
It's a pity that Josie couldn't chat with her more, because the big star mainly came to the crew to talk to Amy Heckerling about serious matters, and they have been working together very happily, so she hoped that Amy M. Heckerling continued to direct the film "Secretary Belle".
"Forgive me, Boss." Amy Heckling was half joking and half serious, "You can't catch me alone all the time, and occasionally I want to shoot something I want to express, so I sincerely suggest You go to Cameron."
What she mentioned was Cameron Crowe, the director of "Mr. Sweetheart". They had cooperated and had a good relationship.
"We looked for him when we were preparing for "Like Heaven", but he has no schedule." Josie said, "He put all his energy on the project "Almost Famous", and I heard that he is aiming at next year's Awards season."