I’m in Hollywood

In addition to comparing the financial data of Firefly, Time Warner, and Viacom in detail, Forbes also uses the examples of the three giants in the telecommunications industry as an analogy to demonstrate its own point of view.

In 1996, the annual revenue of at-t, the No. 1 leader in the U.S. telecommunications industry, was more than $74 billion. The second and third companies, Verizon and Sprint, had a combined annual revenue of only $30 billion, less than at - half of -t, although the gap between Firefly's revenue figures and Time Warner, Viacom is not as wide as at-t and Verizon and sprint, but it clearly shows this trend.

At the same time, Firefly has many similarities with at-t in terms of industrial layout.

at-t itself is a diversified giant in the telecommunications industry. The industries involved include fixed telephones, mobile communications, cable TV, communication software, and electronic products. If you compare a certain business alone, even if at-t maintains a leading position, it will not be able to The competitors are far behind, but all industries combined, the strength of at-t far exceeds the competitors in the same industry such as Verizon and sprint. The current situation of Firefly Group is also the same. In its TV business, film and television entertainment and other sectors, Firefly maintains a modest lead compared to competitors in the same industry, but when these businesses are integrated into a whole, it will show The oligarchic momentum that dominates the media field.

Eric sat in the dining room, patiently read all the articles about himself and Firefly in this issue of Forbes magazine, and recovered, more than half an hour had passed.

Christina was still sitting quietly across from her, she had finished her breakfast and was just looking at him curiously.

Looking at his watch, Eric smiled and said to Christina, You still have a training session today, right? I'll ask the driver to take you to Burbank.

Although Eric's expression was very relaxed, Christina did not forget how he frowned frequently when he just read Forbes magazine. She is a very observant girl, although she doesn't quite understand why Eric has such a reaction , but also knew that he must not have much thought to deal with himself at this time, he nodded obediently, packed the tableware in front of him, and left the restaurant with Eric.

The two came out of the villa together. The car was parked at the door. After instructing the driver, Eric kissed Christina on the cheek and sent her to the car.

Returning to the restaurant again, Eric hurriedly finished his breakfast and took another car to the Burbank Firefly headquarters. On the way, he called Kelly, the female assistant, and asked her to pay attention to this issue of Forbes Magazine.

The relevant articles published by Forbes magazine will surely arouse heated discussions in the media for some time to come. After so many years in this circle,

Eric is also well aware of how serious the substantive impact of the media on some companies is, so he must prepare some plans in advance to deal with possible events.

Because it was Monday, since Eric arrived at the headquarters, he personally participated in the group's weekly high-level meeting. Before that, most of the time, Kelly attended instead of Eric, and then sorted out the meeting minutes and handed it over to him. review.

In recent times, the company's focus has remained on the global distribution of Titanic.

However, the spring TV series have all landed on its major TV stations so far. Robert Iger, the general manager of TV business in New York, introduced abc TV network, ae TV network, Disney Channel and other TV platforms through video calls. The ratings of the opening episodes, the ratings of abc TV network and Disney channel have been stable and rising. Last fall, the dark horse Everyone Loves Raymond, which was watched by abc TV station, returned after the winter break, and the highest number of viewers has been Over 22 million people.

Driven by iconic dramas such as Wanted City, Project Runway, and America's Next Top Model, Lifetime TV, a subsidiary of ae TV network, has continuously launched new high-quality drama series and continued to erode the female audience market. The average number of viewers in prime time is less than 1 million. Under the excellent operation of Anne Sweeney, Lifetime TV has reached an average of 3.5 million viewers in the 12-hour prime time every week. The viewership data of the episode has touched a record-breaking 8 million viewers of cable stations, which makes Lifetime TV the most popular star among American cable TV stations in recent years.

Since the final topic also involved the distribution and promotion of this summer's Firefly film, the regular meeting was held until eleven o'clock.

The high-level news channels that can participate in the group's weekly regular meeting will never be blocked. When the meeting is dismissed, everyone will inevitably mention the Forbes magazine just released today, or congratulate Eric seriously or jokingly. Of course, this Some of them saw the impact that Forbes magazine's relevant articles might have on Firefly Group, and solemnly reminded Eric.

Everyone left one after another, and Katzenberg and Wells stayed in a tacit understanding, and came to a small conference room nearby with Eric.

When the secretary brought the coffee, Katzenberg dismissed him and said, Eric, I called Steve Forbes this morning, they shouldn't have used the word 'oligarch', unfortunately we couldn't This situation was anticipated in advance.”

Katzenberg is also clearly well aware of the impact the Forbes article on Firefly's rising media oligarchs might have on the company.

From Katzenberg's obviously angry expression, Eric can even guess that the call between the hot-tempered Katzenberg and Forbes Group head Steve Forbes was definitely not so pleasant, and the two parties happened directly. Disputes are not impossible.

In this country, the president will be scolded by the media every three days. Although the Firefly Group already has a very strong influence in the media industry, it is impossible to control everyone's public opinion.

After taking a sip of coffee, Katzenberg continued without waiting for Eric and Frank Wells to speak, I will say hello to Robert in the afternoon and cut off the advertising budget for all of Forbes' media platforms this summer. They You can't do this kind of surprise attack just to get attention.

It looks like Katzenberg had a real fight with Steve Forbes in the morning, and it was pretty intense.

Eric smiled and shook his head, just as he was about to say something, Frank Wells had already persuaded: Jeffrey, if you do this, we will really become the media oligarchs in the words of Forbes magazine, I think The situation is not so serious, so it's better not to tear your face.

Frank has always been a 'good cop' within the group, and Katzenberg respects him. Hearing Frank say this, Katzenberg also calmed down, knowing that his ideas were a bit radical and that he was carrying too many personalities. Emotional, so he nodded slightly and turned to look at Eric.

Although we don't need to completely cut off cooperation, we still have to show our attitude. You can let Robert handle this, Eric said to Katzenberg, and then asked Wells: Frank, Do you think we might be at substantial legal risk?

Frank Wells was originally a lawyer. After thinking about it, he said: There is no risk in the short term for the group's own business to continue to expand. After all, we are far from the real industry oligarchs such as Exxon Mobil, General Electric, and at-t. There is still a long way to go. However, if the company continues to develop other areas of business in the next few years, such as expansion into cable operators, as you mentioned, at that time, we will be subject to very strict antitrust scrutiny, Also, there is a very high chance of failure.”

Eric had discussed this with management two years ago.

The decline of North American public television stations and the rise of cable stations are inevitable trends in the future television industry. In order to maintain a leading position in this general trend, in addition to continuing to produce a large number of high-quality content, channel resources are also very important. If there is no cable TV broadcasting platform of its own at all, Firefly's TV business will easily be stuck in the neck in the future. While federal law doesn't prohibit media groups from owning cable television broadcast platforms, Firefly's position is so strong that it's bound to run into antitrust issues.

In any case, this must be a few years later, Eric said after thinking about it, Let's focus on the problem at hand.

Frank Wells nodded and said: Our film and television business will not encounter legal challenges, but the digital field may be in some trouble. When we announced that the digital field would stop external cooperation a few months ago, There are some who have urged the Justice Department to investigate this, and right now, if the topic that Forbes has brought up is too hot, some are likely to revive it.”

So, what we need to do now is to avoid the topic of 'oligarch' being used by others, and it is best to divert the media's attention from the company, Katzenberg looked at Eric and continued: Eric, I have a suggestion, maybe consider it.

Eric nodded, signaling Katzenberg to continue.

I mean, get the media to focus more on you.

Eric spread his hands and said, If this is useful, of course I don't mind, but do you think the company might be ignored when it comes to my topic?

So, we're going to artificially create a focus, Katzenberg said, knocking on a Forbes magazine on the table, $98.7 billion, compared to the second-ranked Bill Gates, a whole 60 billion higher, which is difficult for most people to accept. Before the release of Forbes, I have seen in many media questioning whether your net worth is so much. The article, then, now we can just stir up this controversy and divert the attention of the media and the public.”

Frank Wells lightly patted the table next to him, nodded in agreement, Eric, this is a very good method.

Eric thought about it for a moment and felt that this plan was very feasible. Forbes's statistics on his personal net worth reached 98.7 billion US dollars. Although he can win a lot of eyeballs, it will also cause a lot of doubts. After all, people are always reluctant to believe in miracles.

The three discussed a detailed plan, and Eric called Kelly again at the end. After lunch, Katzenberg and Frank went back to continue their work, while Eric personally directed the implementation of the established plan.

In this era, it is impossible to find a large-scale navy if you want to attract Yu Lun. However, Katzenberg's words when discussing the solution also reminded Eric. This issue of Forbes Before the publication of Forbes magazine, many people questioned Eric's personal wealth, so after the data of Forbes magazine far surpassing the major financial media is released, the voices of these people's doubts will definitely be stronger.

What Eric has to do is to let these people have their voices in the media as much as possible.

The efficiency of the assistant's office is still very high. Just after two o'clock in the afternoon, Kelly handed over a list of 45 people collected to Eric. All of them are some well-known financial media reporters or commentators, and , they have all recently published articles questioning Eric's net worth.

Looking at Eric who was flipping through the folders, Kelly, who was sitting opposite, introduced softly: We have checked about 300 different newspapers and magazines, and this group of people has the greatest influence. In the future, a unified voice in the media will definitely have a very large influence and cause more media platforms to follow up. In addition, we also listed News Corporation, Hearst Group, and Condé Nast’s subsidiaries that are more suitable for publishing related articles. Media platforms, however, these may require you to greet them in person before they will cooperate. On Yahoo, I have already talked with Tina, and she will send a relevant draft application to the list we provided in the afternoon.”

Eric read the general information of these people, called up an address book on the computer screen on the desktop, and joked to Kelly while dialing: If these people know that they are secretly treated by the people they question and oppose. If you lose the chess piece, will it collapse?

Kelly smiled and saw that Eric had already connected the phone, so she didn't speak.

On the other side of the desk, Eric leaned lazily against the back of the chair with a pencil in his hand, and tucked his legs on the table leisurely, and said to the eager voice from the microphone: Hey, William, It's me, Eric, how have you been...haha, of course, oh, you're in the castle of San Simeon, I've been wanting to see that place for a long time, but you guys never invited me...lately Probably not, too busy, but you can come to LA.

After chatting a few words with William III, the current head of Hearst Group, Eric didn't get to the point until the other party took the initiative to ask, and said: Of course, it's just a small matter, I hope you have a few daily newspapers in the next week. Being able to invite a few feature papers to a few people.”

Hearst Group and Firefly have always been closely linked due to the joint ownership of ae TV network and espn TV station. Eric briefly explained a few words, and William Hearst III agreed immediately. As the head of the world's largest print media group, William Hearst III certainly knew the purpose of Eric. , After agreeing, he couldn't help but teased Eric on the phone.

Taking down the phone number of a high-level executive of the Hearst Group given by William Hearst III, Eric pressed the hang-up button and dialed Murdoch's private number. While saying hello to Elizabeth works just as well, it's more efficient to contact Murdoch directly.

After making several calls in a row, Eric sat up straight, handed the list full of contact information to Kelly, and said, Hey, contact these people, you can talk to them directly about the specific implementation plan. , they will cooperate with you.