American Gossip King

Chapter 154 Launching the Acquisition (Part 1)

Sony Pictures, CEO's office.

Howard Stringer sat in his office, looking at Nobuyuki Idei across from him.

The chairman of Sony, a very famous and influential figure.

The old man's head was completely white, and he was furious.

Although the Japanese are the dogs of the Americans, at Sony, Howard Stringer is still my dog!

Howard ignored him, shrugging: "The bet was a decision made by head office, not me."

He simply gave up.

If you don't give up to Nobuyuki Idei, then you have to give up to Ian Carl.

The latter is a case of rotting flesh!

Nobuyuki Idei glared angrily at Howard Stringer: "But you didn't stop him! Look at what he's been doing all this time!"

Howard Stringer sneered: "Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, you are facing the world's most fearsome journalist. He can interview terrorists while a plane is exploding, he can chase after thieves in a car to interview them, and he can interview a person engulfed in flames!"

He shook his head: "Don't you understand who you're dealing with? He's not a typical businessman... his journalistic qualities outweigh his business acumen! He's fearless, he'll use any means necessary to achieve his goals! A shrewd businessman isn't scary, a powerful, fearless soldier isn't scary either, but a shrewd businessman who is also fearless, lawless, and a god-like journalist with incredible execution capabilities, an American hero... that's terrifying!"

Having already sold himself out, he wasn't afraid of his boss anymore. He simply said, "His assets may only be a fraction of yours, but the damage he causes could be more than ten Sonys couldn't withstand. Today, he's only targeting Sony Pictures and its subsidiaries; tomorrow, he might target the entire Sony. Mr. Nobuyuki Idei, I believe you must take his threat seriously!"

"Baka!" Nobuyuki Idei roared in anger. "Sony doesn't accept threats!"

Howard shrugged: "You can refuse, but the consequences are none of my business."

Nobuyuki Idei's face twitched: "I can't accept his demands! I don't believe he has more to offer!"

Stringer shrugged. "That's my answer to him."

………………

Ian didn't seem to care that the negotiations had broken down.

He never expected it to work out, since shorting Sony would have been more profitable. But in business negotiations, you always have to give people a chance.

Now it's yourselves giving up the opportunity!

2 month 4 day.

The Los Angeles Herald, the Los Angeles Times, LANN, CBS News, and other major television and radio stations simultaneously released evidence of Sony Pictures Entertainment's tax evasion.

The market erupted in chaos!

The IRS, like a group of sharks smelling blood, swarmed in. Two million is not important, but the hefty fine is.

On that day, Sony Pictures' stock price plummeted on Wall Street.

If it were just this one piece of news, perhaps the impact on Sony wouldn't be so great. The problem is that in the past half month, they have been entangled in too many negative news stories, to the point that the public's impression of Sony is extremely poor.

Attacking others is an art.

While a series of light punches may not knock down an opponent, they can earn points. However, delivering a fatal blow when the opponent is agitated will completely shatter their confidence.

Market confidence in Sony had already been eroded by a series of negative reports, leading to a drop in its stock price. The subsequent tax evasion news only made matters worse for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

What's disgusting is that Ian Carr also arranged for an interview with a key figure in the IRS, Ibrahim Wade, the IRS's deputy commissioner.

This man is a friend of California Senator Isolte Cherry, who in turn is a friend of Ian—and crucially, Ian sent him a check for $100,000.

Who isn't a friend of money?

So Ibrahimovic announced directly: He would not let Sony off the hook, and would thoroughly investigate Sony Pictures Entertainment's book assets and make them pay all the taxes owed over the years, as well as hefty fines.

The gist of it was something like, "If I don't make Sony cough up three liters of blood, I might as well quit being the deputy director."

Although Sony has connections and is working to get things done, the market has begun to panic, and people are selling off Sony shares, causing Sony's stock price to plummet. In just a few days, it has dropped by 15%.

This is already a serious blow to a large company.

With the principal and leverage from his assistants, and after deducting the bank's withdrawal, Ian Carr's expected profit from this short selling is around 2.2 million.

But Ian wasn't satisfied with that.

Therefore, Ian Carl directly announced that media surveillance of Sony is still ongoing, and the Japanese shouldn't be so rampant on American soil. You can wait, there will be more big news to come.

Good guy!

You're clearly robbing people, yet you're using the guise of national righteousness?

But you know what, it actually works.

Everyone knows that Ian Carl has his eye on Sony, and the loss of confidence in the future means a continued decline in Sony's stock price.

At this point, Sony headquarters panicked and finally agreed to negotiate a settlement.

Howard Stringer was ordered to negotiate with Ian Carr again.

With the support of an insider, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

Ian Carl will no longer target Sony and will try to persuade Ibrahimovic to be lenient; a fine is certain, but it can be reduced.

Sony Pictures was willing to sell the film and television rights to Spider-Man, Resident Evil, and Men in Black to Lockbridge Pictures for a low price of 25 million. The Spider-Man movie that was in production also accepted Lockbridge Pictures' investment, while Carl Media took over most of the publicity.

At the same time, Ian retained the production and development rights for Spider-Man: Black Shock to Sony. This way, they could acquire the copyright more cheaply, and also to encourage Sony to do a good job.

If you ask for too much, you might end up making a bad movie—the film industry really depends on the people involved; if the people are problematic, the work can easily become garbage.

So those blockbuster movies should be made by the same people who made them before, and Ian should try his best not to affect the production so as not to turn good movies into bad ones—even though Spider-Man 3 had problems later, it was still a blockbuster, wasn't it?

For Ian, having the copyright means one less layer of restriction, and it will also make it easier for Marvel to integrate Spider-Man in the future. This will change, but it will only be for the better.

Ideally, Sony would persuade Nomura Securities to help convince Madoff to stop causing trouble.

In business, connections matter, and it's all about helping each other out.

Although Nomura Securities asked Madoff to help them "make money," they certainly still had the right to speak, especially since Madoff's supposed expertise was a facade.

After learning that Ian had made a fortune by shorting Sony, Madoff knew that his plan to target Ian Carl had completely failed. In order to avoid Nomura Securities withdrawing its 5 million investment, he had no choice but to accept the outcome.

With this, the issue of Linuo Bank withdrawing its loans was resolved.

This is interesting: Ian has money, but Linuo isn't withdrawing its loans.

Ian finally let go and stopped releasing negative information about Sony.

If Ian had been more shameless, he could have easily rehabilitated Sony and acquired another batch of shares after completing the short selling.

But doing so would damage his reputation, and Ian didn't want to do that.

Influence is a double-edged sword. It can easily make Ian a lot of money, but if you don't cherish it, the cost of losing trust is even greater.

So after completing this deal, Ian Carl did not make any further moves, ending this short-selling war.

But for Ian, the war had only just begun.

Madoff, that old bastard, is the real culprit. And now many people know that Madoff and Ian are mortal enemies—he only spoke out because Ian made money. Whether he lets go or not is just a matter of his plan failing, and he's just going with the flow.

The latest novel is first published here!

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Carl Media Group, President's Office.

Today, Ian Carl received a distinguished guest here: Boyle, a board member and CEO of Ankang Company.

After the previous incident, Ian and Ankang reached a settlement, and due to the rapid expansion of Carl Media Group, Ankang Insurance Company suffered almost no losses in this matter.

The GG fee was worth it.

They also recouped their losses from the low-interest loan on CBS stock.

As for providing low-cost insurance for Carl Group employees... that's a piece of cake, in fact, there's a profit to be made!

So now the two companies are handling their relationship well, and Boyle has even managed to keep his position.

Boyle is now one of the CBS board members representing Ankang. When CBS holds board meetings, he and Ian sit together and chat. The scene where he was once threatened to be thrown out of the hotel by having his neck grabbed has now become a laughing matter between the two, recalling the good times.

"Ian Carl, we've been through thick and thin together!"

"Actually, I've always felt that we missed out on a great news story by not throwing you out of the building back then."

"Fuck your wife."

"Don't even think about Jessica! Besides, I don't have a wife. Why don't you try fucking me?"

They chatted and laughed like that.

As the saying goes, you can't make friends without fighting!

At that moment, Ian personally poured tea for Boyle: "This is top-quality Longjing tea from China. Coffee is acidic, while tea is alkaline. Drinking some tea will balance it out and is good for your health."

Boyle accepted it with a smile: "I didn't know you had such a deep understanding of Chinese culture."

"I have studied world cultures, after all, qualified media should go global in the future," Ian replied.

He put down the teapot, sat down in front of Boyle, and said directly, "I called you here because I need your help with something. I need to get another 5 million loan from Ankang. Of course, this time it won't be a low-interest loan; it will follow the standard procedure, but it will still be interest-only for five years... I believe Ankang will help me with this."

Paying only interest for five years is a special treatment, but Ian has always received special treatment.

I'm used to it!

Boyle wasn't surprised by this: "What for?"

Ian replied, "I want to acquire Linuo's shares."

Boyle stared at him in astonishment: "What did you say?"

Ian's expression was serious: "I'm going to take care of those shareholders at Linuo. Those bastards have to get out."

"Wow," Boyle laughed. "So you're planning to acquire Linuo Bank?"

"Yes!" Ian said seriously, "Of course I won't be the boss, Gaskell will still be the chairman."

Boyle understood: "You and Gaskell have a really good relationship."

Ian shrugged: "Everyone needs a few good friends in this world."

He looked at Boyle: "I know you have clients with shares in Linuo, and I need you to help me persuade them to sell their shares to me. I can pay a premium."

Paying a premium when acquiring profitable companies is normal; the amount of the premium is up to negotiation.

Boyle said, "So Ankang is going to help you persuade Ankang's clients and even lend you money to buy Linuo's shares? To acquire the shares?"

"How about I borrow money from Linuo Bank to buy shares in Ankang again if I have the chance?" Ian asked with a smile.

Boyle laughed: "That's perfectly fine."

Ian's methods are too ruthless; for someone like him, cooperation is the best option.

Boyle said, "I can help you persuade those people, but they only own 8% of Linuo's shares, which isn't enough to disrupt the market."

Ian smiled slightly: "Leave the rest to me...you know I'm very good at persuasion."

Boyle raised an eyebrow slightly: "I believe that, after all, I've seen it for myself."

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter at the same time.

(End of this chapter)