America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 349 Cooperation Finalized

The aerial catwalk is different, especially because of the limited space, the distance between the models and the audience is very close, so close that even the slightest breathing or soft kicking sound of the models can be clearly heard.

Furthermore, the theme of this show, "The Emperor's New Clothes," took this close-up approach to the extreme, making it a veritable negative-distance fashion show, which resulted in Ernst being breathless as he walked out of Los Angeles Airport.

"Serves you right, getting too cocky." Gisele Bündchen, carrying her elegant suitcase in one hand, raised an eyebrow at the man yawning and shrugging, her eyes full of amusement. Ernst, hearing this, quickly suppressed his yawn, rubbed his slightly reddened eyes, and feigned composure, saying, "As a man, how can I back down at a time like this?"

After greeting a group of stylish, well-dressed women who had spent the night together, Ernst parted ways with them, got into his private car, and left the airport for MGM's headquarters.

In previous negotiations with Donkey, the other party ultimately succumbed to the temptation of Ernst's $30 million earnest money offer and gave in.

After all, thirty million US dollars is not a small amount for any political camp. It is enough to give them a lot more leverage in their upcoming campaign preparations, so agreeing to his conditions was an inevitable result.

The car drove smoothly all the way and soon arrived at the MGM headquarters building.

As soon as Ernst entered the office, Robert Iger, who had been waiting there, immediately began to report the situation: "As you requested, I have established the MGM Special Action Committee. Through this committee, we will donate more than $2200 million to the Donkey's fundraising organizations, and MGM will also donate an additional nearly $130 million in hard cash."

The special action committee he mentioned is not only found in MGM, but almost all large corporations deeply involved in this political game have established such departments.

After all, when it comes to political donations, there needs to be a dedicated agency to handle it, which not only makes it seem more formal but also avoids unnecessary trouble later on.

The so-called $130 million was obtained in accordance with the law.

U.S. law explicitly requires that there is a limit to how much a citizen can donate to a political candidate, and this $130 million was donated through formal channels in a manner that complies with the law.

In this respect, the United States has very sound legal constraints, which can even be described as airtight.

However, these sound laws ironically became a secret weapon for large American corporations to influence policy in the past.

Large companies have many employees. If each employee were to donate to a candidate according to the legal limit, the total amount would be quite considerable.

Do you really think the employees paid for this money themselves?

of course not.

In reality, the donations were all made by the company in the names of the employees; the employees were merely nominal donors.

Correspondingly, once a supporter is elected, they will receive some political support.

For example, when the government tenders for some large-scale projects, according to normal regulations, companies that cause environmental damage are not eligible to participate in the bidding.

However, if these companies donate a lot of money to candidates during the election campaign, the candidates may amend the relevant regulations after taking office to give these companies the green light to participate in project bidding.

This is a classic example of reciprocity, exchanging a donation for huge future benefits—it seems like a worthwhile deal no matter how you look at it.

Ernst sat on the sofa, his fingers flipping through several pages of the documents handed to him, which contained detailed accounts of donations.

After glancing at it a few times, he closed the file, then suddenly looked up and asked, "What about the media?"

Donating doesn't mean putting all your money in cash; the money involved can be transferred.

What is soft money used for?

Of course, this includes the various expenses for publicity, promotion, and travel.

And this is exactly what MGM wants.

Robert Iger seemed to have anticipated Ernst's question and immediately replied, "We've also reached an agreement with the media. Van Buren has committed to allocating at least five million dollars to MGM for publicity during each election season."

This is the advantage of owning a media company: you donate money to a donkey one day, and a portion of that money goes back into your own pocket the next.

Why do Jews love the media industry so much? It's because they can participate deeply in politics through this industry without spending almost a penny.

Take MGM for example. If it weren't for the large amount of the donation this time, and the fact that MGM's television network is still quite far behind the three major public television networks and its influence has not covered the whole country, they could have actually recouped all the money they donated.

Over the past year, MGM Television Network has indeed been expanding rapidly thanks to several hit shows and variety programs, and its ratings have soared.

However, in the US media industry, you can't expand however you want.

Each state in the United States has a high degree of autonomy, and each state has its own set of standards for the media industry. If you want to bring a television network to a state, you have to submit a lot of materials and go through layers of review. The review includes whether the programs conform to local values ​​and whether they will constitute a media monopoly, etc.

Not to mention the work efficiency of American public officials, sometimes it takes months for a submitted application to go unnoticed, and that's only after sending someone to follow up every day.

That's not the key issue. The biggest obstacle is that some states are hostile to outsiders. Many local media outlets and television stations are afraid that outsiders will take away their business, so they use their influence to prevent the approval process from going through.

So after a year, MGM Television Network had only expanded to 21 states in the United States.

However, Ernst was not in a hurry. He had long known that the road to expansion would not be smooth sailing, and the fact that he had now expanded into 21 states had already exceeded his expectations.

"By the way, you don't need to bring a female companion to tonight's party."

This is also why Ernst rushed back today; Van Buren invited all the prominent politicians in California to welcome him into the Donkey family.

A congressional seat is definitely for a representative, since there are only two senator seats per state, making them extremely valuable.

In the future, this seat will basically be represented by California. Unlike the fixed seats in the Senate, the number of representatives in the House of Representatives is determined by the population of each state, with a minimum of one and no upper limit.

California is a populous state with a large number of seats in the House of Representatives. The Donald is trying to minimize Ernst's influence.

However, despite the large number of California assembly members, each one is a highly coveted resource. Securing a seat on the assembly means Ernst has already entered the top tier of California's political circles.

Tonight's party, frankly speaking, is just a way for him to familiarize himself with the political connections in California.

"What, is there a show?" Ernst asked with interest.

Robert Iger shrugged. "I don't know, but those who want to befriend you probably won't do it without using their femininity."

Ernst listened, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Looks like everyone thinks I'm a lecherous lunatic. Tonight's party is going to be interesting; I'm kind of looking forward to it."

Robert Egger looked at Ernst and shook his head helplessly. "You'd better be careful. Most of the people who want to get close to you are trying to climb the social ladder through your connections, or even become your vassals. These people are all opportunists."

"And then there are the factions within the donkey's organization, the various factions are fighting fiercely. They will definitely come tonight to befriend you, after all, whoever can win your support will have a greater advantage in the factional struggle."

"At that time, we will have more say in California and will be able to obtain more resources and benefits."

"It doesn't matter." Ernst didn't care at all. "Who knows who will eat whom in the end."

After discussing the donkey, Robert Iger talked about MGM's development, then, as if suddenly remembering something, changed the subject, "By the way, shouldn't you also support the development of your own industry?"

Ernst paused, looking at him with some confusion. "Support the development of your own industry? What do you mean by that?"

Haven't you supported MGM enough? You've brought in so many highly profitable projects.

Robert Iger smiled wryly. "I mean, interviews. It's one thing if you don't care about other media outlets, but shouldn't you at least show your face for your own media interviews?"

Since Ernst rose to prominence, he has basically not given any media interviews.

When YueDong Games went public, Forbes released its wealth rankings, instantly propelling him to unprecedented heights of popularity.

Now, media outlets across the United States want to interview him. Whoever gets an exclusive interview with him can instantly boost their media's influence, but he hasn't accepted an interview from a single media outlet.

"Could it be that our media wanted to interview me, but I turned them down?" Ernst asked uncertainly.

Robert Iger reminded him of "West Coast News".

Ernst remembered it; he had a vivid memory of that newspaper.

Because of the interview requests from those media outlets, only those from national newspapers reached him; this was the only one he had never even heard of.

He also said at the time that some tattered newspaper from who-knows-where managed to slip through the net.

"Is this MGM's print media?"

Robert Iger rolled his eyes, his tone laced with a hint of sarcasm, "You really don't pay enough attention to MGM's business, do you?"

The West Coast News is a new newspaper formed after MGM acquired and integrated 17 small newspapers in the West Coast area. After a year of development, it is now one of the top five print media in California in terms of circulation.

Ernst was somewhat surprised. "I didn't expect you to act so quickly. I just casually mentioned that I wanted to enter the print media industry, and you actually built one of the top five newspapers in circulation in California."

Although other newspapers in California, apart from the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, are far behind, being among the top five in California means that its circulation must be at least 100,000 to 200,000 copies, which is already a considerable force in print media.

"Let's do it today then, since I don't have anything else to do right now."

We should support our own newspaper if we can.

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