I’m in Hollywood Chapter 1041: Authorization
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"From the current situation, it is impossible for other buyers to take over our Film Studio in the short term," Idei Nobuyuki shook his head and rejected the proposal of Howard · Stringer, saying: "What's more, doing so, Sony and Firefly The contradictions of the whole cannot be reconciled. "
Howard · Stringer suddenly fell silent.
A series of counterattacks in the Firefly system during this time made Howard · Stringer fully aware of the other party's strength.
It is not just the media business that has no strength in the face of Firefly. In the fundamental electronics industry of the Group, although Sony itself has a very strong technical accumulation, it has been working hard in the field of portable music players that it urgently needs to consolidate and has been working hard. In both aspects of the expanded mobile phone manufacturing field, companies of the Firefly system have shown a repressive stance against Sony.
In addition, although Firefly Group just releases the trend to block the Sony Film Industry film on the marketing channel, but the electronic products of Sony Group want to be well promoted in North America, also can not do without a lot of advertising. The Firefly system has just grasped nearly half of the TV Network media resources of North America. This is also the concern and fear of Sony. After all, no multinational group can ignore the huge market of North America.
Remember that when I received the call from Eric Williams last time, I still felt that the other party was too young and frivolous, and Howard · Stringer felt a moment of self-deprecation and regret.
If time can go back, he will never offend Eric Williams for a script.
Now, in order to avoid the overall deterioration of the relationship between the two sides, Sony's compromise with Firefly is almost inevitable. After a week of discussion, Sony Board of Directors has basically made a decision to abandon the Film Industry service. But this matter definitely needs someone to take responsibility. There is no doubt about who this person is.
Noticing the declining expression of Howard · Stringer, Idei Nobuyuki also sighed.
Because both sides have a very consistent business management philosophy, he has always appreciated Howard · Stringer, and even hopes that the other party will become his successor in the future.
However, this matter is definitely impossible to talk about now.
After thinking for a while, Idei Nobuyuki still told the assistant who was waiting for his orders: "Tell Eric Williams, it will be set at noon on Saturday. I will invite him to dinner at Los Angeles. You will prepare in advance there."
......
The time is in September, the summer season has begun to close, and the TV series autumn season is coming.
At the same time, the major Film Studio confirmed that the films at the end of the year have basically been completed during this time period, and they will soon launch a publicity offensive.
Early on Saturday morning, high-level Firefly Groups such as Eric and Katzenberg gathered in a screening room at Firefly Studios to watch the 《Ted》 film.
This 3D Animation and live-action film that uses motion capture technology has been confirmed at the end of the year in Thanksgiving. The release time is November 13th, one week ahead of Mission: Impossible3 on Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
As a plush toy with a long history, tedddy bear has been around for more than a hundred years. In other words, even the 40-50 years old executives present at the scene may have a childhood memory for tedddy bear. Therefore, although the script has been seen for a long time, when everyone watched a fluffy bear unscrupulously drop the rhythm through the big screen, it still inevitably produced various feelings of collapse.
Ninety minutes of video playback is complete, the lights are on, and several other company executives outside the Eric in the projection room have a weird expression, which is obviously a strong smile, I think it is not suitable for this occasion. Too suitable for too presumptuous.
Eric is very satisfied with the film. Compared with original, he made some adjustments to some of the localized details of script, which can make it more friendly to overseas audiences.
With her legs relaxed, Eric looked at the other people in the theater and smiled: "So, what do you think?"
The crowd did not speak for a while.
Finally, Chairman Robert, Thompson, the Firefly distribution department in charge of Broadway International Distribution Group, first said: "Eric, is this movie a bit too big?"
"Shouldn't R be the problem?" Eric asked with a smile, and said: "And, the theme of this film is still positive overall."
"I mean," Robert · Thompson said: "For tedddy bear's image, it seems that the damage is too serious, and the audience may not accept it. After all, this is a very popular plush toy after all. "
Eric said: "Bob, you should want to say that the film may cause adverse effects on children, but in fact, the audience of this movie is not children, but adults. So, as long as it is clearly explained at the stage of publicity To understand the content and positioning of the film, we do not need to consider this issue. As for some criticisms that may be faced, to be fair, this happens to increase the topic of the film. "
On the other side, Frank · Wells nodded slightly, but then immediately added: "Eric, we must not allow this film to be associated with the Disney brand."
Eric agrees: "This is for sure."
Everyone discussed it carefully, and roughly determined a release plan. Everyone left the opening auditorium one after another. Today is the weekend, and most people go directly to rest.
The two of Eric and Katzenberg finally left the opening auditorium, left the office building together, and walked side by side on the cement corridor covered by the greenery of the park.
Randomly talked about some of the company ’s recent affairs, Eric said: "Jeffrey, I have already arranged a lunch with Idei Nobuyuki at noon, and I will probably get Columbia Film Studio this time. However, my idea is that this acquisition is made by Firefly Invest separately there, and Columbia Film Studio will maintain its own operation strategy in the future. "
Katzenberg heard the expression and flashed some losses, but this is actually what he expected. Firefly Group itself is already large enough. If you integrate Columbia Film Studio into the group ’s system, you will definitely need to carry out related business. Integration, doing so will only lose the vitality left by Columbia Film Studio, or even become an optional part of Firefly Group.
Keeping independent operation, Columbia Film Studio can continue to maintain the position of one of the seven major Film Studio of Hollywood, and have the opportunity to rise again like Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
"This is actually not bad. If we add another Columbia here, it will definitely become bloated. Maintaining independent operation will allow the Firefly system to gain more market share as a whole."
"You can understand," Eric nodded with a smile.
Although he relies heavily on Katzenberg, he will not let his senior executives concentrate too much power, which will not benefit both parties.
The two chatted together and came to the office park in the digital field. Although it was a weekend, there were still many employees working overtime in the digital office LOFT.
Stayed in an office in the digital field for about an hour, and checked the progress of some special effects of "Iron Man". The time is almost the same. Eric and Katzenberg say goodbye, leave Firefly Studios, and drive to Culver City.
Half an hour later, outside an upscale restaurant in Culver City.
Although I was very angry, I saw Eric get off the bus, Howard · Stringer still squeezed out a smile, and quickly ushered up: "Eric, good noon."
"Hello, Howard," Eric politely shook hands with each other, and then looked at Bill · Michanik beside Howard · Stringer, and greeted actively: "Hello, Bill."
Bill Michanik ’s tone was a little respectful, and he reached out and shook hands with Eric and said, "Hello, Mr. Williams."
After greeting Howard · Stringer and others, they made a gesture of petition to Eric: "Let ’s go in, the well is already waiting for you."
Eric did not care about the pretentious posture of Idei Nobuyuki, and they walked into the restaurant together with Howard · Stringer.
Entering a private room in the restaurant is naturally a polite greeting.
Eric originally hoped that Chris can come here today, but the AOL stock distribution plan in charge of Morgan Stanley has reached a critical moment.
Next Monday, the 15% AOL shares handed over to Morgan Stanley for distribution by Firefly will officially start selling. Although this batch of stocks has been basically subscribed before this week, Chris still has many details Work requires consultation with Morgan Stanley, so there is no way to rush to Los Angeles.
After ordering lunch, the waiters were sent away, and only Eric was left in the box.
The Idei Nobuyuki just specifically told the waitress to serve some food later, and when the other party left, they opened the door and said: "Eric, Sony are willing to transfer the Film Studio in their hands, but the price you give is definitely not acceptable, according to the current Sony Film Industry Market value, Firefly must pay at least 5billion USD, and you must also bear the existing debt of Sony Film Industry. "
Eric smiled and did not respond to the topic of Idei Nobuyuki. Instead, he remarked and said: "Come out, if I get the right information, Sony should soon launch a purely digital MD player?"
Idei Nobuyuki was stunned, and nodded faithfully. Since Eric said it at this time, there was no need to hide it.
Since the release of the Fireflyer generation, Sony has actually started the research and development of digital music players. With the technical strength of Sony, it has developed a similar digital music player, which does not even take half a year.
So far, the monthly shipments of Firefly Electronics ’Fireflyer second-generation player global have been steadily maintained above 2 million units, and last month ’s shipments even exceeded 2500,000 units. Although the five major Record Company have been trying to curb the proliferation of digital pirated music through various means in recent months, everyone knows that music digitization has become an inevitable trend.
Therefore, Sony has decided to release its own digital music player as soon as possible, which is the MD player called Eric. This player originally used a mini-disk player carrier. Because it also specializes in the mini-player market, Sony did not intend to use a new name, but let its digital music player follow the same name.
Compared with the Firefly electronic Fireflyer player, the Sony MD will use the unique ATRAC audio format, which not only has very strict anti-piracy restrictions, but is also exclusive to Sony Film Industry.
Once confirmed by Idei Nobuyuki, Eric still has a smile on his face, and continued: "Come out, you know, Firefly Electronics has applied for a full set of digital music player related patents a long time ago. Although your MD player uses The only audio format can circumvent some of Firefly's patents in audio decoding. But for other parts, such as system control chips, micro-hard disk storage technology, software operating system, etc., Sony wants to bypass the patent barriers of Firefly electronics to achieve digital music The functions that the player should have are simply impossible. As long as Firefly Electronics is willing, through patent litigation, we can completely prevent MD from entering the North America or even Europe market. "
Idei Nobuyuki has not spoken yet, Howard · Stringer can't help saying: "Eric, you are a monopoly, this is illegal."
Eric ignores the words of Howard · Stringer directly, but keeps staring at Idei Nobuyuki.
Idei Nobuyuki is obviously much cooler than Howard · Stringer, saying: "Eric, since you mention these, does it mean that Firefly is willing to grant this part of the patent to Sony?"
Eric leaned back on the chair, nodded slightly, and said: "As long as Sony can sell enough price tags, of course."
When Howard · Stringer, who just had an angry look, heard the expression Eric, his face suddenly showed an expression he thought he had heard wrong. Firefly Electronics was willing to transfer the patent of the digital music player?
The Idei Nobuyuki's eyes also began to drift.
It has been more than a year since Firefly electronically released the Fireflyer player last year. As an electronic product that is not actually high in technology, if it is not because of strict patent technology restrictions, faced with such rapid development of MP3 players In the market, major electronic manufacturers have been eager to launch their own products.
However, because the Firefly system firmly holds the full set of technical patents for MP3 players, except for Nokia, no other company has ever obtained the relevant patent authorization, so it appears that the Fireflyer player is now almost monopolized.
The Sony MD digital player is indeed like Eric said, and it is impossible to avoid the patent barriers of Firefly electronics.
The original Sony was even prepared to fight the lawsuit with Firefly, just like the original Apple and Samsung ’s lawsuits on smartphones, although in the end Samsung phones barely escaped the fate of being blocked by United States . But in fact, before Samsung, the earlier rise of the HTC Android phone, because of infringement of Apple ’s smartphone patent, was excluded from the North America market in the next step of the bombing of the other party ’s lawsuit, which eventually led to the original market share even exceeding The HTC mobile phone with Apple quickly declined, and eventually it could only become a third-rate mobile phone manufacturer.
Therefore, with the Firefly electronic lawsuit, Sony is very likely to lose.
At this time, hearing about the patent of the digital music player that can be obtained from Firefly electronic hands, Idei Nobuyuki cannot be calmed down anyway.
Know that just now the monthly shipments of 2500,000 units of Fireflyer2 can bring Firefly electronics sales revenues exceeding 800 million USD every month. It is conceivable that in the next few years, the annual market size of digital music players will be absolutely Can easily reach the number 10 billion USD or more, this is a market that any electronic manufacturer will be greedy.