Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

The speed at which the EU passed the antitrust review surprised everyone. Normally, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition would take at least six months to process a cross-border merger and acquisition of this size, with two rounds of supplementary material requests in between. It is normal for some cases to drag on for a year, during which time there are also many behind-the-scenes consultations and competitions.

However, EU officials actually prioritize serving their own countries.

As the leading powers, France and Germany determined most of the policy directions, and with the tacit approval of Ireland, the Netherlands, and other member states, all departments received the green light.

Although Google and Comcast joined forces and conducted extensive lobbying work in Europe, claiming that Apple's acquisition would directly impact streaming media, music copyrights, and the future market competition model for hardware players.

However, the representative of Ireland, the rotating presidency, reached the final conclusion at the EU meeting: "Apple itself does not produce content, and Disney does not produce hardware; the two companies' markets do not overlap at all."

Moreover, neither party will engage in market manipulation. Apple has made it clear that all of its movie, TV series, and other content apps will be available on Samsung's ONE UI and China's Xiaomi's Surge OS.

Apple has no intention of monopolizing the hardware market with its intellectual property.

On March 17, the European Union swiftly passed its antitrust investigation, and the deal for Apple to acquire Disney officially took effect in Europe.

This was the toughest nut to crack, but after Chen Yiran bribed him and got through, the Sino-US investigations became much simpler.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's investigation has entered its second phase, and all parties know that this phase will not last long.

The core members of both parties have already received their benefits. Now it's about restraining their subordinates, giving up some benefits, or taking the opportunity to eliminate some disobedient ones. This should be completed in about two more months.

The situation is simpler for China. There is no conflict of interest, and given Chen Yiran's status as a Chinese citizen, they are basically just waiting for the reactions from Europe and the United States. Once Europe and the United States have approved the deal, China will definitely follow suit.

Google was very disappointed with the result, but Comcast was even more disappointed.

Apple's soaring stock price also suggests an overly aggressive acquisition strategy.

This made Brian Roberts very uneasy. He had received information from Warner that Warner might follow in Disney's footsteps and sell itself to Apple this year.

Selling himself to Warner would be perfectly acceptable, but it was something Brian Roberts could not accept at all.

His family had always maintained a firm grip on Comcast, and they were always the ones acquiring others. He never imagined that one day he would have to worry about controlling Comcast.

However, Apple's current stock price puts a lot of pressure on him. If Apple were to seek various share swap acquisitions with some of Comcast's shareholders, he doesn't think those institutional major shareholders could completely ignore Chen Yiran's charm.

Moreover, the idea of ​​these three former Hollywood Big Six companies joining forces is too good to pass up, and their stock prices are bound to skyrocket, which is exactly what major institutions want to see.

Brian Roberts' shareholding in the company is actually quite good; he controls the company entirely through Class B shares, using less than 1% of the economic shares to control approximately 33.3% of the total voting power.

He feared that Apple would really go all out and start acquiring all the remaining shares. He couldn't possibly compete with Apple in terms of financial resources, and bidding against them was completely impossible.

So he issued a full-scale blitz, and his television stations began to mobilize public opinion from all sides, and started to escalate the matter to the political level, hoping to sabotage the deal on American soil.

They didn't bring up Chen Yiran's Chinese identity, since Apple is still a wholly American company. He found a rather unusual angle: sports, a topic Americans are always interested in.

For a whole week, CNBC has been creating panic, saying that Apple might bring Netflix's subscription model to their sports channel in the future, charging extra for a subscription and making football a more expensive sport.

However, the effect was minimal, as Disney's television network spent a week refuting Comcast's various statements one by one.

ABC television also devised a new tactic, directing the fire directly at Brian Roberts.

Renowned journalist David Muir invited Carl Icahn, who had left CNBC, to his show, where the two discussed their backgrounds.

Icahn first used himself as an example: "I have to say that, like Chen Yiran, I am a complete self-made man."

Don't let my Jewish background fool you; my family background was just average. My father was a struggling opera singer, and my mother was a teacher. We were just an ordinary family.

I grew up in Queens, in a neighborhood that was very hardcore, with a mix of Black, Irish, and Jewish people.

When I was a child, I disliked rich people. I thought it was too much for them to live in luxury apartments while many others lived in abject poverty.

Of course, I worked very hard. I received a scholarship from a private school in elementary school, but my parents felt that the values ​​of that private school would influence me, so in the end I went to a public school.

When I went to Princeton for college, my father only gave me $750 a year for tuition (in 1950) and refused to cover my room and board. When I asked him what I wanted to eat, he said that was a problem I would have to figure out myself.

Later, I bought a book, studied for a week, and started playing poker. I made money very easily, and my poker skills were 10 times better than the best players at the time.

So you see, I didn't go to a private school, and I didn't rely on my parents, yet I still became a billionaire. That's why I can understand Chen Yiran even better; we both became wealthy through our own efforts.

Instead of someone like Brian Roberts, who, to put it bluntly, is nothing without his father?

David Muir, standing nearby, laughed and said, "Don't say that. Brian Roberts also did some things."

"For example?"

David Muir pretended to think for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "Acquire a controlling stake in QVC? Acquire EWScripps Cable? Acquire AT&T Broadband? Acquire Jones Intercable? Acquire Prime Communication?"

"Haha, what else can he do besides acquisitions? That's why I said everything he has is built on the foundation laid by his father. The company's continuous cash flow allows him to keep expanding through acquisitions. What ability does he have?"

Another ridiculous thing is that he consistently blocked Apple's acquisition of Disney, yet he himself had been trying to acquire it for over a decade. There's another thing that many people might not know.

In 2004, they offered $660 billion to acquire Disney, but Disney, not wanting their outdated company, decisively rejected the offer.

I now suspect that Comcast's current antics are simply a result of unrequited love.

But I still want to say this: stop playing the villain. Stirring up public opinion? Everyone's not blind. It's easy to tell which is the thriving high-tech company and which is the declining old company.

Only a failing company like Comcast, and someone like Brian Roberts who only knows how to use capital to intimidate people but has no real innovative or managerial ability, would resort to all sorts of underhanded tactics. Don't you think so?

David Muir feigned alarm and said, "Well, you're a billionaire, so of course you can say whatever you want. I wouldn't dare to talk nonsense. You know, he can even criticize his own shareholders. If I say a few words to him, will I get buried alive?"

In 2008, Chief Capital Management sent a strongly worded open letter, presenting hard data: Comcast had spent $800 billion on acquisitions over the past decade and regularly paid more than 20 times its operating cash flow for cable television and media assets without generating any returns for shareholders.

He didn't care about consumers, insisting that customers buy TV channels in bulk instead of individually, preventing customers from using advanced set-top boxes designed by other companies, and even starting to interfere with customers' use of peer-to-peer internet programs.

Brian Roberts has recently spoken out on several occasions, opposing strict online neutrality rules. It's truly alarming that these words came from the CEO of a major media company.

I wouldn't dare say that about him!

ABC's program was so effective that it caused Comcast's stock price to drop by 7% the following day.

Comcast immediately began preparing a counterattack, planning to dig up dirt on Apple and Disney. Disney, in particular, as a century-old company, has plenty of dirt to offer if you dig it up.

Their current goal is to drag Apple down with them, even if it affects them.

However, on March 19, 2013, the Forbes Global Billionaires List was released, and Chen Yiran rose one place to become the world's second richest person. As a result, believers on the Internet once again frantically bought Apple's shares, and Apple's market value was directly boosted to a new record.