American Gossip King

Chapter 182 Ian's Revenge

Early April, *** Building, headquarters of Carl Media Group.

Ian smiled as he signed his name on the agreement, and a group of UTA bigwigs clapped and laughed.

Marty Bauer, over fifty years old and co-founder of UTA, gave Ian a warm hug: "Working with you is our greatest success. With you and me together, it won't be long before UTA becomes the best agency in all of Hollywood!"

Tracy Jacobs also joked, "The most important thing is not to target our artists."

This woman is UTA's top agent, and her most valuable artist is Johnny Depp.

The only person who could rival him was Frank Reddio, who was MJ's manager, though their partnership ended not long ago. However, MJ remained with UTA and later continued to work with them.

Even now, although Lady Gilliam is not Michael Jackson's manager, he is still Michael Jackson's friend, much better than Dr. Tomei. In addition, he also has many star singers under his management.

Besides these two big-name agents, there's Jason Heiman, Christopher Nolan's agent; and Martin Lessek, the agent of comedian Will Ferrell, who also opposed the acquisition and sabotaged it behind the scenes.

UTA's revenue last year was around 230 million, with a profit of 80 million. Most of their expenses were for agent salaries, etc. They also invest in film and television, but the returns are mediocre.

Ian invested $6 million to acquire 77% of UTA's shares, becoming the controlling shareholder.

The second largest shareholder is Chairman Marty Power, the third largest shareholder is co-founder Jim Berkus, and the rest are other co-founders and some big-name brokers who hold shares.

UTA is currently valued at around 800 million to 1 billion, so this price is truly a bargain—Chatham has obtained all of UTA's internal financial statements, including a considerable amount of operational information and insider trading, so that Matibauer cannot inflate the valuation or leave any hidden tricks up his sleeve.

In addition, Ian made a series of promises: for example, he guaranteed that he would not interfere with the management of UTA; for example, every artist under UTA would receive special treatment and more promotion; for example, Carl Media would help to fight competitors when there is commercial competition; for example, Carl Media would also give more promotion to film and television projects in which UTA participates...

In short, money is not the key; the key is Ian Carr's media resources.

From now on, UTA artists will always be the best news, and there will be no scandals!

After exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Ian sat down with them. He personally poured drinks for everyone and said with a smile, "Now that we're all in the same boat, there's something I'd like to tell you all."

Let's all watch him together.

Ian turned on his computer and started playing the video.

Watching George Bois speak in the video, everyone looked at Martin Leseck with astonishment.

Tracy Jacobs exclaimed, "Fuck, Martin! How could you do this?"

Martin Lessek's face was also grim: "Ian Carl, I admit I didn't like this before, mainly because your price was too low, and you wanted to be the largest shareholder. UTA is a professional brokerage firm and must maintain sufficient independence! You offered too little money, but asked for too many shares. Also, regarding Jennifer Connelly, my information is that Universal Pictures and DreamWorks have already put in a lot of effort. You haven't done much for her! You're just picking up freebies!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I didn't instruct him to alter the list. I wouldn't do that. That was George Bois's own doing! I have my own bottom line!"

"Then your bottom line doesn't meet my needs," Ian smiled.

He shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter how much effort I put into Jennifer Connelly's case. What matters is that you saw someone sabotaging things. Without me, the Oscars would have been a huge joke, and do you know how serious that would be?"

Martin Lysek shouted, "That has nothing to do with me! You've offended the ABCs! This isn't a simple matter; you've offended many people, including Jews, which is why I'm against it."

Ian nodded. "You're right. I have indeed offended a lot of people, but I have the ability to clean up the mess. You, Mr. Lesek, are different. I can offend a hundred people and then easily resolve the situation. You, however, can't resolve the mess you've made with even one person! That's the difference between us. The key issue has never been how many people you've offended, but whether you have the ability to clean up the mess!"

Marty Ball quickly said, "Martin is an excellent agent. He was wrong in this matter, but I hope you can forgive him."

Ian gave Marty Bauer a cold look: "That's it?"

He could understand Matty Bauer's feelings.

The most important thing for a brokerage firm is to win over top-tier agents, since they control core resources.

Although Martin sabotaged Ian, it wasn't a loss for the company. If the operation had succeeded, it could have even been leveraged by UTA to raise prices.

Therefore, Martin did not offend UTA, but only Ian Carl!

Marty Ball's decision to save Martin at this time greatly helped his reputation within the company.

As expected, Marty Bauer laughed and said, "I hope you can be more generous. If you had told me beforehand, perhaps UTA ​​would have given you a better price."

Bullshit!

Ian chuckled softly, "What if I insist you take care of this guy?"

Marty Bauer gently shook his head: "You are just a shareholder, not responsible for actual management. This is what we agreed upon."

I'm not surprised at all that you would say that.

Ian got up, took a stack of documents from the drawer, and tossed them to Marty Bauer: "And what about this?"

Marty Bauer took a look; it was full of dirt on Martin Leseck.

The others crowded around to look, and were all astonished.

Tracy Jacobs shouted, "Ian Carl, you can't do this! You promised you wouldn't do anything to harm UTA!"

"Not reporting negative news about UTA isn't written into the contract. What's wrong with breaking a verbal promise?" Ian sneered. "I won't interfere with UTA's management, but if UTA people cause me trouble, and I can't teach them a lesson... Do I look like someone who's easy to bully?"

Everyone was speechless.

They both looked at Martin Leseck, their eyes conveying, "Sorry, I can't save you."

If Martin Leseck is left behind, Ian Carr, who has just become the major shareholder, will immediately deliver a fatal blow to UTA.

Damn it, this is a betrayal from one of our own!

Perhaps Ian Carl will even risk betraying his own family for the sake of justice, upholding the principle of equality before the news.

The latest novel is first published here!

Martin Lysek knew he was finished.

He nodded helplessly and desperately: "I'll submit my resignation later."

He left angrily after saying that.

In this situation, he had no choice but to resign, otherwise Ian would ruthlessly destroy him!

He had thought about many things, but he never imagined that the first day Carl Media acquired a stake in UTA would be his resignation day.

As he watched him leave, Ian Carl chuckled softly.

He looked at the crowd before him and said, "Notify CAA and WME not to accept Martin Lysek's joining."

Marty Bauer frowned slightly.

You said you wouldn't be responsible for operations and management, but you forcefully intervened in this way on the very first day?

Now everyone understands why Ian Carr was so generous in delegating authority.

He doesn't need any overt power, but if you disobey him, he'll kill you!

That's why he did it after the contract was signed.

After succeeding, Ian Carr showed his true fangs - this is also the consistent style of most capitalists.

Before taking office, they say all sorts of nice things; after taking office, they do all sorts of bad things.

The last group to experience this situation included Xingkelun Daily, Meihe Construction Company, and shareholders of Linuo Bank.

As co-founder Jim Berkus stated, "We have no influence over the CAA or WME; they are not going to listen to us."

Ian grinned: "That's exactly what I wanted, they won't listen."

He spread his hands and said, "You always need an excuse to start a war, don't you? I made some promises to you, and as long as we cooperate, my promises will always stand!"

A bloodthirsty excitement gleamed in his eyes: "Hollywood needs a good little show now!"

Hollywood will have to fear him sooner or later. Once they discover how terrifying Ian Carr is, they'll all submit, and it won't be so easy for Ian to leak information... After all, you'll find that they're all your people!

So take this opportunity to gather some information, release some scoops, unleash a powerful AOE attack, generate a lot of news, and at the same time continue to improve your left eye's experience.

From this perspective, Ian doesn't actually care too much about controlling Hollywood.

We must always leave some enemies as stepping stones.

Fortunately, Hollywood is a large place, and there are always stubborn people out there.

Looking back at the crowd, Matti Bauer and the others felt a chill run down their spines.

(End of this chapter)