American TV series: Starting with exploiting young Sheldon

The two men brought not only agricultural planting experience, but also a large number of crop seeds.

At the same time, King Group's various factories have also taken root in Genovia, providing a large number of job opportunities.

With the help of two highly intelligent individuals, Mike and Page, to guide the overall direction, Genovya's development embarked on a "fast track".

With a clear direction for development, the people of Genovia have also been inspired to take initiative.

The harder you work, the happier you become.

People are smiling more often now.

As it turns out, with Mike's support behind the scenes, Queen Mia's previous worries were completely unnecessary.

Later, as the school season approached, Mike took some time to use the portal to send Collins, Jerry, and Katie back to Apple City to attend school.

Incidentally, they also sent Tina, Jessie, and the other girls back to their jobs in Apple City.

As for Mike himself, he took a break from his busy schedule to continue his vacation in Genovia with the three girls from the "Devil Body Group".

Peggy, who had been researching artificial intelligence, may have found a sense of accomplishment in helping Princess Mia manage the country.

He also chose to stay in Genovia, where he continued to research artificial intelligence and advise Queen Mia.

Two more weeks passed slowly like this.

That day, Mike received a call from Randy on the set of Titanic.

"Have you finished filming your movie yet?" Mike estimated the time; according to director Cameron's schedule, Titanic should be almost finished filming by now.

Next, it should be time for film editing and promotion.

“The movie is almost finished with just a few more big scenes, but there’s been a little mishap…” Mr. Randy’s tone on the phone sounded a bit strange: “Due to budget overruns, director Cameron and Morgan had a disagreement, and filming of the remaining scenes has been forced to stop.”

Mr. Randy is now with Kings Entertainment and has been assigned to the film crew. One reason is to let him learn from director Cameron's techniques, and the other is to represent Mike, a shareholder, to monitor the film's production progress.

Now that filming has essentially come to a standstill, he naturally needs to report to Mike.

"Did you have a conflict? Tell me more about what happened," Mike asked with concern.

With Mike's current wealth, he doesn't care about the film's profitability.

However, this big movie is the first step for King's Entertainment to officially make a name for itself, and even if it's just to buy fame, Mike can't just stand by and watch the movie run into problems.

“From what I understand, Morgan has invested in several low- to medium-budget films in the past six months, so he probably doesn’t have much money left,” Mr. Randy revealed in a low voice. “But director Cameron is a perfectionist, and he plans to make the remaining scenes of Titanic into classic shots, which will require a lot more money…”

Well, it all comes down to money.

Morgan had previously gotten a clever deal with Mike, acquiring a larger stake in the Titanic through a package deal.

If handled properly, he could indeed save some of the budget and then get a larger share of the film's revenue.

However, this is also where the problem lies. Morgan took the initiative to cover the remaining filming budget and publicity costs for Titanic, which involved a gamble.

That's how he met Cameron, a director who spends a lot of money on making movies.

Now that they haven't gotten any bargains and are still investing more money, Morgan, who is already broke, is naturally unwilling to accept this.

Chapter 508 Acquisition

A few days later, through Mr. Randy's connections, Mike met with film investor Morgan and director Cameron in a conference room in Los Angeles.

Compared to last year, old Morgan looked much older and more haggard, and was currently smoking a cigar with a frustrated expression.

Director Cameron, standing nearby, appeared calm, but his clenched fists betrayed his suppressed anger.

“What’s wrong? If there’s a problem, we can talk it over. There’s no need to delay the film’s production because of a fit of pique. In the end, we’ll be the ones who suffer.” As the one who initiated the conversation, Mike poured a glass of red wine for each of them.

Although he had been very polite, he still subtly hinted at Morgan.

After all, Morgan had previously made a grand promise to take care of both the filming and promotion of the movie, but now, due to funding issues, they haven't even been able to take care of the filming.

This is already a huge oversight.

As the film's second-largest shareholder, Mike has the right to question him.

“I have tried my best to control the production costs. The production cost that everyone agreed on was 250 million, but I only used about 200 million…” Cost issues are not Cameron’s responsibility, so he directly expressed his dissatisfaction: “The remaining few shots are very expensive, but they only require 10 million.”

"I can guarantee that once this ten million is spent, Titanic will definitely become a classic in film history."

"Now that two hundred million has been spent, our Mr. Morgan is starting to be stingy with that ten million..."

Cameron was present when Mike and Morgan signed the shareholding agreement, so he knew exactly what Morgan was planning.

It was precisely because of this that he looked down on Morgan, this speculative capitalist.

“That’s ten million, not one thousand US dollars. Besides, the budget of two hundred million isn’t just for filming costs; it also includes subsequent promotion and theater distribution…” Morgan had to explain himself after being rebuffed by the film director.

However, judging from his tone, he seemed somewhat guilty.

In fact, Morgan has been investing in the film industry for many years and does have its own methods in film promotion and theater distribution.

His previous plan to cut costs and save money also took into account his network of relationships on these two fronts.

However, the film hasn't even reached the promotion and release stage yet, and a funding gap has already appeared, which Morgan hadn't anticipated.

And as he said, ten million is definitely not a small amount.

Although Morgan was quite wealthy, with total assets estimated at 5 to 6 million, most of that was fixed assets and cash waiting to be returned to him.

Asking him to come up with ten million in cash now is really asking too much of him.

"Mr. Morgan, are you planning to keep 50 million for publicity?" Mike looked at the bluffing old Morgan and said generously, "I'll cover the 10 million shortfall for filming, but I also want to see your sincerity."

"In the four or five months leading up to the summer movie season, I want to see Mr. Morgan invest a full 50 million in marketing and distribution, not a penny less."

Am I being clear enough?

As the King Group grew into a conglomerate with total assets of hundreds of billions, Mike gradually transformed from a Wall Street newcomer into a financial tycoon.

He is now powerful enough to be looked up to by wealthy people like Morgan.

Morgan was initially relieved to hear that Mike was willing to fix the filming hole.

However, after hearing Mike's pointed reminder, Morgan broke out in a cold sweat.

As a wealthy man, he was all too aware of the power of financial giants.

Mike had initially paid little attention to Morgan's cunning, but once he got serious, he couldn't let Morgan play tricks anymore.

"Well, I'm having a bit of a cash flow problem right now, and I'm afraid I won't be able to come up with 50 million in the next four or five months..." How much marketing and distribution funding they can come up with in the next four or five months depends entirely on how much profit Morgan made from the few low-budget films he invested in recently out of greed.

There are many uncertainties involved.

Investing in movies isn't always profitable; some investments don't even recover the principal.

Feeling immense pressure, Morgan secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and shamelessly said, "How about you invest a little more money, Mike? When the movie makes money, I'll give you a larger share proportionally."

This inappropriate remark immediately silenced the room.

Morgan, who became the largest shareholder of the film because he promised to contribute the most money, belatedly realized how naive his idea was.

Having already shown his fear, he quickly lowered his head and became a coward, no longer daring to meet Mike's eyes.

On the other side, Mike, leisurely sipping his red wine, stared at Morgan several times with a blank expression.

When the atmosphere in the room became so heavy that it was hard to breathe, Mike gently tapped the table and called out, "Mr. Randy, bring the things in."

Mr. Randy, who was already waiting outside, pushed open the slightly ajar door and strode in carrying a stack of documents.

"Mr. Morgan, these are all the film projects you've invested in over the past year. Except for Titanic, they're all low- to medium-budget investments. According to experts, the chances of your low- to medium-budget film investments recouping their costs quickly are slim..."

Mr. Randy placed the documents in front of Morgan and said, "So there's a high probability that you won't be able to afford the marketing and distribution for the new Titanic movie..."

"Even if you continue to hold on, the subsequent marketing campaign for the Titanic will drag you down and bankrupt your entire fortune."

In some ways, making movies is indeed a very expensive business, and Mr. Randy was not exaggerating.

Moreover, Mike's arrival was not unprepared.

Before he arrived, he had Tina investigate Morgan's situation and faxed the information to Randy.

In other words, because of Morgan's unsatisfactory performance, Mike had already decided from the beginning to kick him out of the Titanic project.

Seeing that old Morgan was gradually becoming withdrawn after Randy's words, Mike spoke up at the right time: "Mr. Morgan, I regret your current situation. Now you have a choice, which is to sell all your shares in the Titanic to me."

"This way, you won't have to worry about the marketing and distribution of the Titanic movie, and you'll even have extra funds to fund your other film projects."

"what do you think?"

After saying that, Mike calmly took a sip of his red wine, seemingly unconcerned that Morgan might disagree with his proposal.

On the other side, Morgan, whose mind was gradually calming down, finally realized that Mike had other plans this time.

However, as Randy said, Morgan had no choice but to cut its cash flow problems.

Especially since he is now facing a big capitalist like Mike.

"Five hundred million!!!" After struggling with his thoughts for a long time, Morgan gritted his teeth and said with veins popping on his forehead, "As long as you can come up with five hundred million, I will sell you all the shares of the Titanic."

It must be said that Morgan is indeed a veteran in the film investment industry.

If the new Titanic movie goes well, his investment could indeed earn him a profit of 500 million.

However, given his current situation, wanting 500 million is simply wishful thinking.

Even if Mike is rich and won't lose money, it doesn't mean he can continue to tolerate others taking advantage of him.

“One hundred million, you didn’t lose money, you even made fifty million.” Mike leaned back in his chair, looking down at Morgan across from him.

"Four hundred million, that's the lowest I can go. I can introduce you to the publicity team and connections with the theaters..." Mo argued logically.

This is a basic quality for a businessman.

“One hundred million, I’ll let you break even.” Mike reminded him, “You need to understand your current situation, it’s not like I’m begging you.”

It's intolerable that someone who was almost bankrupted by the Titanic would dare to raise prices so arbitrarily.

“One hundred million? That’s too little. I’ll compromise and make it three hundred million.” Morgan said with experience, “You and I both know that this new movie is definitely worth that price.”

As mentioned earlier, Morgan is a veteran filmmaker, and he has his own assessment of whether a new film can make money and how much it can make.

But right now, the rhythm is clearly not on his side.

"Ten million for filming and fifty million for marketing costs. If you can cover that shortfall, you might earn three hundred million." Mike retorted sharply, "But the situation is different now, so I'll only offer you one hundred million. If you're not satisfied, I'm leaving now."

"However, I must remind you that any choice you make now will affect whether you go bankrupt in the future."

Mike's words indirectly reminded Morgan who he was about to offend.

Sure enough, upon hearing Mike's warning words, old Morgan's face paled even more.

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Morgan relented, dejectedly saying, "I've invested 100 million in this project alone, plus the effort and management fees I've put in during this time, I think I deserve 150 million."

"Deal!" Mike smiled again. "You made the right choice, Morgan."

It has to be said that with the ability to read minds, negotiation becomes incredibly simple.

Chapter 509 Building a Team

After the most crucial negotiation phase concluded, the remaining share transfer agreements were processed quickly.

As mentioned earlier, Mike had planned this trip in advance. So he didn't come alone; he was accompanied by Manny, a well-known Wall Street lawyer.

Subsequently, under Manny's impartial supervision, the share transfer process proceeded smoothly.

The transfer agreement was signed in less than half a day.

"Although this collaboration was a bit unpleasant, I have high hopes for your judgment, and I hope we will have the opportunity to work together again in the future." Having already reaped the benefits of the Titanic deal, Mike showed magnanimity to old Morgan.

Besides, Mike really admires Morgan's film investment capabilities, and King's Brokerage is about to be launched, so it needs some high-quality partners to help it get started.

"Let's talk about it another time." Old Morgan looked at the spirited Mike, feeling a little uneasy, and said politely, "Compared to you young people, I'm old enough. Maybe I should consider retiring."

Overall, J.P. Morgan's investment this time did not result in a loss; in fact, he even made a small profit.

The meager earnings he made were far below his expectations.

It's fair to say that in the previous negotiations, he was completely outmaneuvered by Mike and suppressed in every way.

It was this feeling of being powerless that led J.P. Morgan to consider retirement.

After all, he is quite old now and has assets of five or six hundred million. If he were to stop now, that money would be enough for him to enjoy his retirement.

……