American Gossip King

Chapter 146 The War Begins

Since the 9/17 incident, Ian has been busy attending various banquets.

He conducts business negotiations with influential figures, participates in corporate mergers and acquisitions, and occasionally conducts interviews to further enhance his reputation.

In addition to Amherst Construction, Ian also bought the remaining shares of Spark TV and integrated other websites to create LANN (Los Angeles News Network).

This is also Ian's own news network, encompassing television stations, newspapers, websites, magazines, and film and television companies, among others.

However, it is still mainly based on newspapers at present, and is gradually transforming into television and websites.

Ian's development in this area was originally restricted due to the acquisition of CBS, but after the agreement was renegotiated, CBS lifted the restrictions on Ian's independent news network in order to receive the payment as soon as possible, allowing Ian to fully unleash his potential to develop his own business.

This means he will likely resort to his old tricks again and try to extract the resources he needs from CBS.

Of course, he's not the chairman of CBS now, so he can't be as blatant as he was with the Xingkelun Daily News; he has to take it slowly.

This meant that Ian hadn't dropped any major bombshells during this period.

On the other hand, Sony took a very tough stance and resolutely rejected Ian's conditions.

Ian knew that this was still due to the support of the Jews.

Within a year, Ian’s rapid expansion and advancement, along with his unfriendly behavior toward Jews, had already caused many Jewish power groups to become hostile toward him. However, because Ian had not publicly expressed his hostility, it had not yet aroused the hostility of all Jews.

Currently, the Jewish people who dislike him are mainly concentrated in Hollywood.

Ian wasn't in a hurry.

What he needs to do now is to make the most of the benefits that 917 brought him, and to truly consolidate his power so that he will have the resources to confront Jewish financial groups in the future.

10 month 29 day.

The White House announced the deployment of troops to Afghanistan about 12 days later than the original timeline. Ian had anticipated this, as media groups had already begun to spread hatred and create momentum under the guidance of the White House.

The military-industrial complex needs to sell weapons, the news media needs big news, politicians need achievements, and even oil companies are interested in it—although Afghanistan does not produce oil, it is close to oil-producing countries, and there are many connections behind the scenes!

After we take Afghanistan, we can take Iraq!

Therefore, on this matter, the major figures in the United States were relatively united and unanimously agreed that war should begin.

Even Ian did not object to this, and even bought some military industry stocks in advance.

Of course, he wouldn't go there himself to do war reporting.

Firstly, his eyesight hadn't returned to level four yet, and without the Invisible Giant, he lacked confidence facing a hail of bullets on the battlefield—this wasn't some gangster-style game; it was a battle of firepower, and X-ray vision and threads were useless.

Secondly, with everyone engaged in constant gunfire, Ian couldn't create any special storylines in the past and couldn't leverage his advantage as the mastermind behind the scenes... The endless war news was all about excitement, but lacked any real plot.

Since that's the case, let's just leave it to our subordinates.

Therefore, during this period, Ian only collected big stories, but basically didn't break them out—good news needs to be paced. After September 917, the Afghan War attracted attention, and at this time, the value of other big stories would be reduced.

This is also why Ian focuses his efforts on corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Today, Ian was at the company reviewing reports and listening to work reports from Deer Chandler and others when he received a call from Jessica Alba.

Helen Berry, Scarlett O'Hara, Shawna, and others recently joined Lockbridge, but they haven't been making any movies yet. Fortunately, Ian is generous enough to provide financially, so the girls are financially secure. According to the plan, Ian will next make a move in the film and television industry—this time in terms of management, not whistleblowing.

Upon receiving the call, Ian said, "Hey Jessica, what's up?"

Jessica sounded panicked on the phone: "Chatham doesn't want to terminate my contract; he's threatening me!"

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The midnight café at the foot of Beverly Hills, true to its name, doesn't do much business during the day.

When Ian walked into the coffee shop, he saw Dan Mills sitting in a corner drinking an authentic Americano, pure black coffee, without creamer or sugar.

Although Danmills was a despicable and absurd man with little ability, he was very good at scheming.

Ian was interested in Lockbridge Pictures because the guy was shameless and had connections that could bring him more inside information, making it easier for him to launch a precise attack.

On the patterned tablecloth of the coffee table was a laptop. The fat man with a chubby face was pretending to look at the computer, but his eyes were secretly glancing at the waitress.

So you just can't get past the waitresses, huh?

Upon seeing Ian enter, the fat man grinned, stood up, and waved his chubby hand, saying, "Here, boss."

Ian then walked over and sat down on the hard sofa opposite the fat man.

He looked out the window. Winter snow was falling, and the ground was covered with silver frost, pure white and sparkling. There were hardly any pedestrians on the road.

Christmas is approaching, and some shops have put up Christmas trees with colorful lights hanging in front of them.

Seeing Ian sit down, Dan looked at him with envy and admiration.

With a respectful tone, Dan handed him a document: "Here's what you wanted."

The latest novel is first published here!

Ian took the documents and looked at them carefully, then casually asked, "How's the company doing lately, Dan?"

Dan sighed and shook his head: "It's not good. Business is slow, and everyone is feeling helpless."

Ian asked, "Can't Shauna and the others help you make money?"

Dan shrugged: "You know you're not very popular in Hollywood, boss?"

Ian smiled, said nothing more, and continued looking at the documents.

He quickly put down the documents and said, "So, this Chatham is a UTA agent?"

UTA stands for United Talent Agency, one of the major talent agencies in the United States. Its big-name artists include Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, the Coen brothers, Jennifer Lopez, and many others.

They even signed a contract with some expired darling of China!

Their real rise to prominence came in 95 when Michael Jacksonson left CAA for UTA.

In 98, UTA poached top female agent Tracy Jacobs from CAA because she had a trump card in her hand: Johnny Depp.

During this period, they also established an independent film department and actively engaged in film and television production in order to enhance their voice.

UTA has also been actively seeking cooperation with television networks. They previously collaborated on "The Sopranos." As a shareholder of CBS, Ian could get UTA to release him with just a word if he wanted.

But Ian didn't want to do that.

That means he will owe UTA a favor and will have to repay it in the future.

Why use expensive methods when you can solve a problem with cheaper ones?

Especially since the other party acted unfairly.

This guy named Chatham actually threatened Jessica, saying that if she didn't renew her contract, no one in Hollywood would hire her anymore. Not only that, he also brought in gangsters to intimidate her.

The City Boys 13, a predominantly white gang.

Garrick, who was turned into a burning torch by Ian, was a member of this gang.

Having reviewed the guy's information, Ian asked, "Is he staying at home tonight?"

Dan shrugged: "That's hard to say. Agents and producers are alike; we're all nomads."

"Then let's make the arrangements for him." Ian stood up. "It's not difficult, is it?"

(End of this chapter)