America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 493 McDonald's Gold Card

"Let's discuss these two matters later. Today is an important day for Robert Iger, so let's not keep our Yolanda waiting at home."

Ernst's teasing tone eased the somewhat serious atmosphere in the meeting room, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

After saying that, he stood up, as if he had thought of something, took out a card from his pocket, and casually threw it in front of Robert Iger.

Robert Iger's gaze fell on the card, which shone with a golden luster, and the delicate patterns were faintly visible under the light.

He reached for the card, a look of confusion on his face, and asked, "What's this?"

"A McDonald's Gold Card. With this card, you can enjoy unlimited free meals at any McDonald's location worldwide. Consider it a belated birthday gift for Tannier," Ernst explained casually, as if this seemingly ordinary gold card was nothing special.

This McDonald's gold card was specially sent to him by McDonald's a couple of days ago; it's the same kind of gold card that Buffett owns.

However, compared to that, the gold card in Ernst's hand is even more prestigious, and can be considered a legendary McDonald's meal ticket.

This card is considered a legendary McDonald's meal ticket, circulating since the 80s. It cannot be purchased through regular channels; only a select few receive it as a gift. This scarcity makes it a symbol of status and prestige.

McDonald's marketing campaign was quite clever. They knew that super-rich people like them would hardly eat these products, and even if these people did eat them every day for free for life, the cost to McDonald's would be negligible.

Conversely, once these super-rich individuals appear at McDonald's stores and use this gold card, even if only once, the resulting social attention and media exposure will bring McDonald's huge GG publicity benefits. This intangible value is far greater than the cost of a few hamburgers and fries.

"Shouldn't you make it up to me?" Robert Iger asked with a disgruntled expression.

Looking at Robert Egger's smug expression, Ernst felt a surge of urge to punch him, but said bluntly, "If you don't want it, I can give it to them."

Even someone as influential and knowledgeable in the industry as Robert Iger might never have the chance to see one of these gold cards in his lifetime.

As for the others, it's even harder to say. Didn't you see that everyone in the conference room, upon hearing the name, curiously gathered around, wanting to see the legendary gold card up close?

For a long time, this card has been shrouded in mystery and legend. Everyone knew that this gold card existed, but no one knew who had been given it.

Buffett acquired the card because he later revealed it publicly on a television program. Bill Gates also became known to the public through an unintentional revelation by Buffett on a program.

At the time, Buffett also admitted that he greatly envied Bill Gates' gold card, which could be used worldwide, because his own gold card was only valid at McDonald's stores in his hometown of Omaha.

"Speaking of which, this card was clearly a gift for you, is Tannir even qualified to use it?"

Ernst rolled his eyes at him. "Do you think McDonald's would care about the customer's identity over a few cheap hamburgers?"

Robert Iger thought about it carefully and realized that Ernst's words made sense.

Even if the gold card was stolen and used by someone, McDonald's probably wouldn't make a fuss, and might even secretly cover for the user.

A gold card has appeared. What is this?

This is news, this is exposure, this is buzz.

For McDonald's, using the cost of a few hamburgers to gain such massive traffic and attention is undoubtedly a profitable deal, so they naturally don't care who the actual user of the card is.

Without wanting to waste any more words, Ernst got up and left the meeting room, heading towards the underground parking garage.

As he walked to his car and opened the door to get in, something rather embarrassing happened.

"I was so grateful to you before, but it turns out this is the real reason you were so eager to end the meeting."

Ernst never expected that Robert Egger would come down so quickly, right behind him.

This made him wonder to himself: What kind of battle gear has Yolanda prepared today that makes Robert Iger so eager to leave? He really wanted to know.

"Shouldn't you give me an explanation?" Robert Egger walked up to Ernst, his gaze sweeping across the car, looking as resentful as a wronged wife.

Ernst followed Robert Egger's gaze into the car and saw two young and beautiful women sitting inside.

He then turned around, gave Robert Iger a helpless look, and explained, "These two are Playboy's newest models. That old guy Hugh Hefner said their 'typhoon' isn't stable enough and their lower body strength is lacking, so he insists I help train them."

"As you know, Playboy's business is one of MGM's important business segments, and as the boss of MGM, I really feel bad refusing such a request."

Robert Iger curled his lip upon hearing this, then raised his wrist to glance at his watch, his tone laced with sarcasm, "You really know how to use your time. By the time you get back to Hidden Mountain City, it'll probably be 10 PM, won't it?"

Ernst coughed lightly. "How about I hand them over to you, and you take them back?"

Robert Iger rolled his eyes, saw his car pull up, and drove off.

Ernst watched as Robert Egger's car disappeared in the direction of the garage exit, then turned to Muller beside him and ordered, "Have someone send a few sets of Playboy's lingerie that are about to be released to Robert's house right now."

If they've already made lingerie, there's no reason they shouldn't venture into erotic clothing.

In fact, Playboy had launched a erotic clothing business in its early years, but the designs of the products launched at that time were too ordinary and lacked innovation, resulting in a lukewarm market response and unsatisfactory sales.

Ever since those designers found inspiration in lingerie, they've also hit the nail on the head when it comes to erotic clothing. Ernst, for one, felt something when he saw those pictures, and that's success.

"Now?" Muller asked uncertainly after hearing Ernst's instructions.

"Right now," Ernst nodded. "With the flash sale going live, we should let Mr. Robert experience it, shouldn't we? Send a deliveryman to deliver it to him."

Seeing Muller nod and take out his phone, Ernst added before getting into the car, "Prepare two sets, one to take back."

Muller's hand, which was holding the phone, visibly stiffened for a moment, but Ernst didn't see it; he was already in the car with women on either side of him.

At night, Hidden Mountain City is like a large village, eerily quiet, with no sign of life outside the window.

After a quick shower, I looked at the various erotic costumes torn to shreds on the floor. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were scraps of fabric from some factory.

After glancing at the two young girls sleeping soundly on the bed, Ernst put on his pajamas and went to the living room.

Turn on the TV, and at this time of day, besides old movies and classic TV series, there are only sports events on TV.

There are practically no more formal sports competitions, but there are still quite a few live sports programs. The fact that they can invite guests to do live broadcasts late at night shows how strong the demand in the sports market is.

One of the sporting events that MGM Television Network is looking to bid for is the NFL's NFC, which is the National League of Football, one of the two major football leagues.

As the top sports league in North America, even though it's only one of the two major leagues, its price is still exorbitant.

The current broadcasting rights for NFC are held by CBS, but they expire this year. The bidding is for the traditional television broadcasting rights for six years from 99 to 04.

The last bidding round was eight years ago, when CBS won the broadcasting rights for eight years for $16.8 billion.

Although this time it's only for six years, the price will definitely exceed this offer.

MGM estimates that the bid price is likely to exceed $20 billion.

However, this is considered a good thing. Currently, the four major leagues are all tendered as a whole package. After 2000, they started to be broken up in various ways.

For example, a rest day evening package is a set of matches that take place on all rest days and are broadcasters bid on together.

There are many similar packages, with the entire event being divided into several or even dozens of portions.

MGM is currently mainly facing the NFC bidding, but the MLB bidding is not in a hurry.

The broadcasting contract for MLB is held by Fox. Fox acquired the five-year broadcasting contract for MLB for $1.15 million per year, which will not expire until next year.

Therefore, the MLB bidding will not be held until September of next year, and it will not take effect until 2000.

However, this contract will be more expensive than NFC. Industry insiders generally predict that the broadcasting fee for MLB's only broadcasting contract for the next six years will see an unprecedented surge, potentially exceeding $25 billion.

Everyone knows that the NBA was doing very well in the 90s, but the 90s was also the era when American baseball leagues accumulated a large number of fans worldwide.

So Fox got a bargain; they bought the broadcasting rights for a pittance.

Another point is that the contract in this bidding process is not only the broadcasting contract for the only official event, but also includes all events related to MLB, such as the All-Star Game and exhibition games.

Ernst actually values ​​MLB more than NFC.

For no other reason than that the broadcasting rights for this event are held by Fox.

North America is only so big, and there are only so many TV station resources. If Fox takes a bigger share, it means MGM takes a smaller share.

In a close contest, the brave prevail; America cannot afford to support five nationwide integrated television networks.