America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 327, Section 325: Eric's Ultimate Scheme – The Road to Monopolizing Hollywood

Warner Bros. was determined to acquire it, not to mention the numerous copyrights it held, including those it had snatched from MGM.

DC Comics alone is a gold mine waiting to be tapped, and the wealth that can be mined from it is no less than that from Marvel.

Although, based on the situation before the time travel, DC was completely outmatched by Marvel, it wasn't that the comics and those superheroes lacked influence; it was simply a matter of human factors.

Isn't there a sentence that clearly reveals the problem?

DC's biggest enemy is Warner Bros. If you hadn't given such terrible directions, you wouldn't have missed the golden age of superhero movies.

So if the copyright were in Eric's hands, things would be a completely different story.

With DC in one hand and Marvel in the other, they can pull off all sorts of amazing feats.

Therefore, whether from an emotional or economic perspective, Eric always prioritized acquiring Warner Bros., while Disney had to take a backseat.

Since half of Disney's wealth comes from the physical economy of its amusement parks, Warner Bros. actually has the upper hand when it comes to film and television resources alone.

Especially now, in 2005, not 2024, without the subsequent wave of acquisitions, Disney wouldn't be nearly as powerful.

Inside the room, seeing the four people's surprised expressions, Eric continued, "Howardskinger and Barrymeyer aren't here, so I'm willing to talk to you frankly."

"I believe in you, and of course, it's fine if you want to remind Barrymeyer, anyway, no one can stop Facebook from going public."

"Similarly, when I launched my takeover bid for Warner, Barrymeyer couldn't stop me either, because the colonel couldn't influence the general's decisions."

"I'll launch a direct acquisition bid for Time Warner. What do you think the outcome will be?"

"Is the plan to sell WarnerMedia and raise tens of billions of dollars in cash to alleviate their own debt?"

"Should we just watch this money slip through our fingers and sink deeper into debt?"

Gudong!

All four of them swallowed hard, because this was indeed a difficult question to judge.

Many people are unaware that, although the seven major Hollywood studios seem to wield immense power, controlling the lives and deaths of hundreds of thousands of industry professionals and exerting a tremendous influence on the global film and television industry.

However, most of them do not exist independently.

Not to mention how many times it has been bought and sold over the past century since its establishment at the beginning of the last century.

As things stand, only MGM and Disney are truly able to determine their own fate and maintain their independent status.

Sony Columbia, as the company name suggests, belongs to the Japanese company Sony Corporation.

Universal Pictures belongs to Comcast, whose parent company is involved in telephone, cable television, and internet businesses.

Paramount was acquired by Viacom more than a decade ago, while 20th Century Fox belongs to Murdoch's News Corporation.

Warner Bros. Pictures is a subsidiary of Time Warner, which is essentially a consortium of multiple subsidiaries.

Other companies of similar stature to Warner Bros. include HBO, Time magazine, CNN, and DC Comics.

These subsidiaries operate relatively independently under normal circumstances, but they are all responsible to the parent company, Time Warner.

If Time Warner insists on selling WarnerMedia Pictures, not only will Barrymeyer's words have no effect, but the entire WarnerMedia Pictures board of directors will have no choice but to compromise.

Unfortunately, Time Warner hasn't been doing too well in recent years, and the reason for that can be traced back to the year 2000.

In early 2000, the emerging internet company AOL spent $1810 billion to acquire the entire Time Warner Group, effectively merging the two companies to become AOL Time Warner.

This was originally a very promising deal. Time Warner had a wealth of film and entertainment resources, while AOL possessed powerful internet resources. By all accounts, it was a powerful alliance.

But human effort cannot withstand the tide of the times. In other words, when you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can cause problems. The newly merged company ran headlong into the dot-com bubble.

Amidst this wave of bubble bursting, AOL plummeted from a high-quality company to worthless, dragging Time Warner down with it.

That scenario is like discovering the truth about your wife's family after you've gotten married: a gambling father, a hospitalized mother, a good-for-nothing younger brother, and a broken wife.

But a legal obligation has already been formed, what can you do about it?

Let's grit our teeth and get through this together.

When Eric traveled through time, it was around May 2002.

The new company released its first-quarter financial report, revealing a staggering loss of over $540 billion.

Back then, how much was MGM worth? Its assets and liabilities were less than $30 billion, yet it lost the equivalent of 18 MGMs in just one quarter.

AOL Time Warner's losses for the entire year of 2002 reached a record high of over $980 billion.

What does that mean?

It was equivalent to the combined GDP of Chile and Vietnam at the time.

Although the dot-com bubble eventually burst and market confidence recovered somewhat, the market was still operating at a loss.

In other words, Time Warner is currently burdened with an enormous amount of debt.

If Eric remembers correctly, the debt wasn't fully paid off until 2009.

A failed deal almost cost Time Warner its entire existence.

When Facebook goes public, with billions of dollars in cash thrown in front of Time Warner, Eric doesn't believe they won't be tempted.

From the moment he transmigrated, he never thought of using MGM to acquire other film companies; he wasn't that stupid.

From beginning to end, he intended to use an internet unicorn to do this business.

Relying on a film and television company? Sooner or later, you'll be acquired by someone else.

"Eric, what do you want us to do?"

When Howard Stringer asked that question, his throat felt very dry, even though he had drunk a lot of water.

"Cooperate with me, especially when facing antitrust investigations. Disney certainly won't stand idly by and watch Warner be acquired. I'll need your help then."

"Similarly, you can gain access to the power of Lionheart Network. I can promise each of you 7.5% of the shares, which will be realized within 3 months."

"Think about it, with Howard Stringer and Barrymeyer, the six of you will each get 40% of the shares, with Disney and Warner definitely taking the lion's share."

"You four families will most likely only get 20%, which means 5% each, but now I'm giving you 7.5% each."

"Guys, use your brains and see who the real generosity is, and who's causing you to keep losing money."

The four looked at each other without saying a word, but each of them had different thoughts in their minds.

Money, it's all about money. Although it's just talk coming from Eric's mouth, those words will soon be converted into gold.

Snapped!

He clapped his hands, the crisp sound startling them awake, and the four of them turned their attention back to Eric.

"Besides the shares in Lionheart.com, you can also invest some money in the shares of my companies such as MGM and Facebook, and you are guaranteed to make a profit."

"Of course, having enjoyed such great benefits, I also hope you are willing to give something in return."

"Eric, what else do you want?" Brad Grey asked.

"It has little to do with Paramount. As for Universal, I hope to regain the rights to Hulk and Namor."

"Money is not a problem. Anyway, the Hulk was botched in your hands, and Namor still doesn't have a shred of faith."

"As for Fox, I hope the rights to X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool can return to Marvel."

"Then there's Sony, the Spider-Man series characters and the related rights to Ghost Rider; MGM is willing to offer you a price that satisfies you."

As soon as Eric finished speaking, the three related parties immediately shook their heads.

Universal might be following the crowd, but Sony and Fox are genuinely shaking their heads.

"Eric, you should be able to see the value that the X-Men have created for Fox. It's a gold mine. We signed a contract with Marvel back then."

"And then there's Spider-Man. Peter Parker is worth more than the X-Men. Although Spider-Man 2 didn't meet expectations at the box office, it still grossed over $6 million worldwide."

"We've already planned Spider-Man 3, and the project will start soon. How can I explain selling it to you?"

"Eric, your request is outrageous."

His mouth was dry from talking, so Eric picked up his water glass and took a sip. The cool water felt refreshing in the winter.

"It's outrageous because you haven't opened your minds. We could make two Spider-Men."

"Sony develops Sony's products, and Marvel develops Marvel's products."

"What?"

"You keep making your Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, and I'll make my Marvel Spider-Man. We won't interfere with each other."

"How can they not interfere with each other? What will the audience think? Two Spider-Men, which one is real? Which one is fake?" Howard Stringer stared speechlessly, he had never heard such an absurd idea in his life.

"They are all real, none of them are fake, they just belong to different universes."

"Sorry, I'm not paralyzed yet, so I don't understand your scientific viewpoint."

"Haven't you read comics? Whether it's DC or Marvel, there are countless universes in comics, and in each universe, there is the same group of people."

"For example, the Sony version of Spider-Man is set on Earth in Universe 1, while Marvel's story takes place in Universe 10."

"Different universes will naturally unfold different stories. Even among Spider-Man, their appearances, backgrounds, and personalities are all different, understand?"

"Similarly, the X-Men and the Hulk can both be explained using this theory."

"Genius!" Brad Grey exclaimed after a moment of stunned silence.

Then he added with some emotion, "Eric, you really are a business genius, a super genius. This theory works."

"How do you know it will work?" Howard Stringer retorted.

"Because my son kept telling me these stories. You're the head of Sony in the US, so you should at least know something about the company's golden goose."

Click!

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Michael Ienas and Barimere walked back in.

Upon seeing them, Eric instead got up and left: "That's all I have to say. Think it over carefully, and contact me when you've made up your mind."

After saying that, he left the villa amidst the two men's suspicious gazes.

His goal this time is to win over the four companies to counter Disney and Warner.

If they can swallow Warner Bros. in one fell swoop, Hollywood will form a de facto unipolar world with multiple strong contenders, similar to Disney's dominance a decade or so later.

It's worth sacrificing 30% of Lionheart's shares for this, as these shares are not enough to affect his control over the company.

Moreover, this 30% stake is for now, and it will definitely be diluted when the company goes public, but it will still allow them to make a fortune.

If you don't want to be diluted, then you have to continue to increase your investment, which means you'll be even more firmly tied to Eric's interests.

The closer they are to you, the more at ease you feel, provided it doesn't affect your own decision-making.

This could at least slow down or eliminate the possibility of them developing their own streaming media and competing with Lionheart.

Then they'll try to acquire Disney if they can, but while acquiring Warner might pass the antitrust hurdle, the possibility of acquiring Disney is hard to say.

If you can't swallow it up, crush it. At the same time, launch an acquisition campaign against New Line Cinema, Lionsgate, Lucasfilm, and DreamWorks. Acquire as many as you can.

They will take three years to establish de facto control.

At that time, although Sony, Universal, Paramount, and Fox will still remain independent, they will inevitably have to bow down due to the intertwining of interests and power.

If this step can be achieved, although an absolute monopoly cannot be formed, a relative monopoly status has been achieved.

Based on future development patterns, the Paramount Decree will likely be loosened during the mask era, and the integration of film companies and theater chains will be advocated by many members of Congress.

Try to find an opportunity to work with John Adams and see if you can get the bill deactivated ahead of schedule.

Once this is achieved, all aspects of film and television production, promotion, distribution, and release will be returned to the hands of a single company, just like Hollywood in the last century.

What I film, the audience will watch.

Even if what I film is a pile of poop, the audience still has to watch it!

Because you have no choice, I control all the cinemas, how can you choose?

What is a monopoly? This is what a monopoly is!

The Wrangler sped along the return journey, with Judy slamming on the gas pedal: "You're going way too fast! Luckily, I didn't go too far."

"Negotiations aren't like gossip. I set out the terms, and they can consider them."

"If you accept, you'll naturally contact me. It's that simple."

"That's still too fast. I thought you guys were going to have lunch together, or at least have a drink."

"I have no interest in eating and drinking with those old guys."

"Yeah, there aren't any pretty women among them."

Eric rolled his eyes. "In your eyes, am I just an animal that only knows how to mate?"

"Tsk tsk. Pretty much, but hopefully you won't mate as quickly as this time."

"Hmph! Whether I'm fast or not, go ask Gadot and the others. Each of them can testify for me. If I didn't have some skills, how could I serve so many of them at the same time?"

"No need to ask her, I can verify it myself."

"Um?"

scoff!

"What? Why are you taking off my pants?"

"Don't move, I'm driving!"

"It's okay, I'm driving too."

"Hiss, this scene seems somewhat familiar."

(End of this chapter)