America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 179, Section 178: MGM's Relisting and its Plan to Acquire Marvel

It's often said that a life of pleasure is a hero's grave, and that's absolutely true.

By evening, Eric finally stopped tormenting her when he saw she was in no condition to continue.

This state lasted for three days, and the two lived like a married couple.

At home, I eat, watch TV series, play games, and then constantly seek love.

During that time, I made a phone call to Sergei, that middle-aged man who was starved for love. The other man sounded very spirited.

"Sergei, where did you go that night? I could see you at first, but then suddenly you disappeared, along with Kate Winslet."

Sergei chuckled: "We left before ten o'clock, then went for a walk on the beach in Santa Monica, enjoyed the scenery, and chatted about life."

"What happens after your walk?"

"And then? Then I took her home."

Even though they were on the phone, Eric couldn't help but look puzzled.

"Dude, don't tell me you guys are really talking about life and the meaning of existence."

A confident voice came from the other end.

"That's right, young man. I know what you're thinking, but sex is secondary to me now."

"How many women have I been with? White, yellow, black, mixed skin tones, tall, petite, sexy, cute—and there are plenty of them who are prettier and more alluring than Kate."

"But I'm tired of just sex; spiritual compatibility is the most important thing."

"Through a night of communication, Kate and I got to know each other better. We found common interests and direction, which was much more comfortable than a sexual encounter."

"You may not understand what I'm saying right now, but with your status and resources, especially being in Hollywood..."

"Surrounded by all kinds of beautiful women, facing so many temptations and seductions, I believe you will understand one day."

"By then, you will have been through countless battles, and you will naturally understand my mindset."

After listening to his long, rambling explanation, Eric's only thought was, "You're fucking wasting resources."

I've finally created this opportunity for you, so shouldn't you consider that you're a married man? If she knew, would she still be close to you? But I can't say that.

"Alright, buddy, it's your choice. This is all I can do."

"Eric, my brother, I will remember your help. I will do my best to help you in the future!"

After hanging up the phone, Theron lay on his chest and drew circles on his chest, having overheard the conversation.

"You rascal, look at your friends. The most important thing between people is spiritual compatibility. You're absolutely right."

Eric chuckled and said, "Honey, you need to look at things dialectically."

"He also said that he had been with all kinds of women, so it can be inferred that he was either tired of them or his genitals were no longer up to par, so he could only choose those who were compatible on a spiritual level."

Theron slithered up to him like a snake and straddled him, looking down at him and asking, "And what about you? Sergei only runs a toy business, but you're a Hollywood mogul."

"Let me think, how many women have you been rumored to be having affairs with? And how many more are hiding in the shadows?"

"No! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!"

Eric vehemently denied the rumors three times: "Rumors are just for publicity. Don't you know what kind of people those tabloids are?"

"My darling, you're the only one in my heart. You should be able to feel my love!"

"Ugh, how annoying!"

Hahahaha

Happy times always pass too quickly; three days of blissful life had just ended.

Finally, at Theron's insistence, the two left the apartment and returned to work.

Her reason was that career comes first; you're a man, and the head of such a large company, you have a lot of responsibilities.

If I delay important matters, it will be a huge loss, and I will be hated by everyone.

Whether she truly wants to return to work or is simply using this as an excuse to escape Eric's clutches, only Theron herself knows.

Anyway, when she left, even her walking posture changed.

The oxen plowed the land badly!

As usual, the House of Cards crew left the matter to Andrea, reassuring her to hold on for a few more days and that they would be back soon.

At Mei Yi Records, Mike's team is overseeing the work and handling matters related to the company's establishment.

After discussing the matter, the two decided to set up the company in Los Angeles, specifically in Burbank.

This is the entertainment center of the United States, home to numerous film and television companies, as well as a considerable number of record labels.

Moreover, it's very close to MGM, making communication convenient.

What Eric is really focused on right now are two things: the competition between Facebook and MySpace, and communication with Marvel.

Myspace has been online for over half a month, and thanks to Fox's all-out promotion, it has generated a lot of buzz.

The brainwashing-like offensive was just like the brain-boosting supplement, and any Fox viewer who heard the word "join" would immediately think of MySpace.

Although many people complain that it's as annoying as spam calls, the traffic it attracts is real.

However, attracting traffic is only the most basic thing; the key is how to retain users.

As a social media app with similar functions to Facebook, MySpace is a follower and must come up with some killer moves. Its key moves are personalization and skirting the edge of legality.

From the moment it launched, one of its strategies was to recruit a large number of DJs, musicians, and young men and women from various nightclubs and bars.

These musicians all have some fans, and even if they are not big stars, they can still attract a lot of users by accumulating small numbers.

Even more attractive than them are the young, charismatic women.

The United States is a divided country in many ways, and sex is one of them.

In films and television shows exported overseas, American girls are often portrayed as incredibly open-minded, casually engaging in casual sex, with losing their virginity at fourteen or fifteen being commonplace.

That makes sense, but it's not absolute, because besides the extremely open states, there are also many states here that are extremely conservative, far more so than China.

In states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia, where churches are powerful and almost every household believes in God, sex is viewed as something akin to evolution—a monstrous threat.

Even twenty years later, when LGBT movements sweep across the Western world, you will absolutely not see any pro-LGBT marches in conservative states like Alabama, because fanatical believers are really willing to shoot you directly.

Myspace is hiring people from sexually liberal states like California and New York, which, according to surveys, are the places in the US where cheating, infidelity, and having multiple partners are rampant.

Therefore, these young women are all incredibly open. The photos on their homepages, where they pose provocatively, are actually quite reserved. Many of them are practically wearing only a piece of cloth, just short of showing their nipples.

This kind of tactic is something no normal man could resist, let alone those hot-blooded young men.

Ask yourself honestly, did you ever download Momo back then because you wanted to hook up with someone? The principle is the same, so it's vulgar but very helpful for attracting traffic.

Eric also registered an account to test it out, and when he saw this, he just smiled dismissively.

While skirting the edge of legality might maintain temporary popularity, it will damage the foundation of the online ecosystem.

If you don't do pornography, you won't get attention or attract fans, and it gradually evolves into an arms race of who can do the most explicit content.

However, neither society nor the law will allow the existence of a pornographic site suitable for all ages.

It's still early, and the public and parents haven't reacted yet.

If MySpace grows bigger and becomes more unrestrained, what do you think parents' reactions will be when they suddenly discover that their underage children are browsing inappropriate information?

Eric can then use public opinion to stir things up and escalate the situation.

When pressure is put on myspace, it's impossible not to make changes.

At that time, its main label was pornography, and that's what attracted people to it.

If you suddenly say you're giving up, who will want to play with you anymore? Wouldn't it be better for me to go to Facebook?

Besides skirting the line, another feature of MySpace is its personalized main page settings.

Users can freely change the colors, background, decorations, text content, and other aspects of their homepage.

This feature is somewhat similar to QQ Space in later generations, allowing users to make their homepages flashy and dazzling to others.

Many people must have had this experience and feeling when alternative culture was popular back then.

Eric tried it and thought it was good, so he wanted to ask Fitz to make a similar feature.

But Fitz told him it was best not to do that, because while it might seem glamorous, it would come at a high price.

"Boss, our team has conducted a phased test of the personalization features of MySpace, which involves continuously decorating the personal homepage to be more elaborate and complex."

"If the level of splendor is 1, then it looks beautiful."

"And when the glamour level is increased to 10, it looks even more beautiful."

"But when the glamour level is raised to 20, the side effects start to appear, and the homepage starts to lag when it opens and refreshes."

"As this number continues to rise, the lag will also continue to worsen, until it takes four or five minutes to open a homepage."

"And even after clicking on it, there will be further lag, such as comments not syncing after being posted."

"Boss, our company's software and hardware configurations are already the most advanced available on the market, and even we still have problems. You can imagine what the experience of ordinary users is like."

"It may seem great now, but the drawbacks will definitely become apparent in just two or three months."

After listening to Fitz's explanation, Eric couldn't help but think of Penguin Space, which did indeed experience abnormal lag later on.

If a page takes several minutes to load, who would be interested in continuing?

"What you say makes sense. What's your suggestion?"

"Boss, I think we just need to do our jobs well and don't need to pay any attention to MySpace's provocations."

"It has chosen a short-sighted path and is not worthy of competing with Facebook. It will soon destroy itself."

"According to my information, the joint promotion of MySpace within major companies and organizations has not gone smoothly, and the result is pretty much as you predicted."

"Our promotion in major middle and high schools is going very well. We have added 300 million new middle school users, and the vast majority of them are very active."

After a moment's thought, Eric said, "Since Myspace is so eager to catch up with us, let's give it a boost."

"Facebook has never released any data since its launch. In the next few days, prepare to release the data with a 20% increase."

"Boss, isn't 20% too conservative? How about increasing it to 50%? Without pressure, there's no motivation."

"Isn't 50% too exaggerated? Will people believe it?"

Fitz chuckled and said, "Whether ordinary people believe it or not is none of our business, but even if there's only a 1% chance it's true, Myspace wouldn't dare not believe it."

"Once it believes it, it will inevitably go to even more extremes on the path of skirting the edge, and the hourglass of death will only flow faster and faster."

"Okay, let's do it that way."

With things relatively stable on Facebook for the time being, Eric shifted his focus to Marvel.

Since deciding to target Marvel some time ago, Eric has been investigating and contacting relevant personnel.

According to the information we have, Marvel’s largest shareholder is currently Beach Toys, which holds a 20% stake.

However, Beechcraft Toys does not directly participate in the operation; it is more of an investment strategy.

However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that Marvel completely ignores the issue, as Marvel's two largest individual shareholders are Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

The former holds 17% of Marvel's shares, while the latter holds 10%.

Based on Marvel's current market value, the two individuals' combined shares are worth approximately $3.2 million.

Both of them are also shareholders of Beechcraft Toys, but their stake is not as large as Marvel's.

So if Eric wants to take over Marvel, he now has two paths in front of him.

The first option is to directly negotiate with Beechcraft Toys to see if they can acquire the 20% stake, which is currently valued at $240 million.

MGM currently has sufficient liquidity, even at a premium of $1 million.

But the process could be very lengthy, requiring board meetings and constant discussions and negotiations.

The second option is to approach Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad, and try to persuade them to buy the shares and become Marvel's largest shareholder.

Then, when MGM goes public and has more capital, it will buy back the shares from Beechcraft Toys.

According to Eric's plan, MGM's relaunch was scheduled after the release of "Transformers".

Once relisted, it will undoubtedly receive billions of dollars in funding.

By then, even if we pay back the money we owe Kerkorian and the bank, it will still be more than enough to acquire Marvel.

Even more surprisingly, Lao Tzu also acquired Beechcraft Toys.

If a premium of 100 million isn't enough, I'll offer 200 million. If 200 million isn't enough, I'll offer even more. I'll smash you until you're dizzy. Who would turn down money!

"Chen Xing, how's the arrangement with Marvel?"

"Boss, we've already arranged a time. Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad will be in Los Angeles in four days to raise investment. We've arranged to meet them at the company."

I didn't get things done today, so I'll take the day off tomorrow to get them done.

(End of this chapter)