Chapter 1467 Sony Shock

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"This is really good news..."

At the end of March, former talk show king Johnny Carson was in Burbank's mansion. Song Ya met Doug Morris, the president of Universal Music, who came here for a secret meeting, accompanied by their mutual friend Daniel.

The three were walking and chatting in the back garden. Doug Morris revealed that neither he nor Vivendi Universal's new leadership objected to licensing Universal/PolyGram's huge song copyright library to the beats music store in principle.

"Thanks." Daniel was very happy that his old friend was showing off so much face. "It's all over. We should have cooperated as well as we do today."

"I can't guarantee... Uh, after all, the Bronfman family still owns a large amount of shares in Universal, and Ron Meyer's attitude is also very important."

If it weren't for the allmusic launched by the duet alliance of Universal and Sony together with the whole music website, and the similar competing product Musiet launched by bmg EMI and realworks, which is too anti-human, there shouldn't be opportunities for external companies such as Apple Beats in the field of online music stores.

On the one hand, the Big Five or the Big Six plus Disney have gradually recognized their nature as amateurs in the Internet field. Based on commercial interests, they turned to welcome music stores such as beatsitunes with both hands. The more competitors, the Big Six in the upper reaches of the industry The interests of copyright providers will be protected.

On the other hand, Ron Meyer, the CEO of Universal Entertainment Group, is starting to increase his control over the subsidiary company Universal Music. He used the opportunity of an internal review of the allmusic fiasco to attack Doug Morris frantically.

Doug Morris has been at a disadvantage in the office struggles within the Universal system since he was climbed to the head by the formerly equal Ron Meyer, and he has been very aggrieved.

It's almost seventy years old, and it's too boring to be wronged and suffer. Doug Morris has actually started to quit. He thought he was a successful 'Richelieu' who cunningly danced on a tightrope among bigwigs like Bronfman Jr. Barry Diller Black Pharaoh ex Vivendi Universal CEO Messier and eventually kept his job, But I didn't expect to lose to Ron Meyer who surrendered to Messier earlier and more decisively...

After briefly introducing the complex situation within the Universal System, he asked, "How many companies have you managed?"

Daniel glanced at Song Ya, and replied after getting a hint: "Disney Warner has already signed, and EMI and BMG are also going through the normal process of seeking authorization, so it shouldn't be a big problem. So now only your Universal Music and Sony Columbia Records are left. "

Daniel is bragging for Song Ya,

In fact, the progress is not so fast, nor so optimistic.

"What about the pricing?"

"It should be basically consistent with Apple."

"ok."

"Do you have any suggestions on how to get Sony Columbia Records done? Mr. Morris." Song Ya intervened in the conversation between the two.

"I don't know much about their new president."

The new president of Sony Columbia Records is Howard Stringer's old subordinate at CBS Television Network. He is a senior manager who has never had experience in the record industry. Doug Morris told the truth while looking at the black man beside him from the corner of his eye pharaoh.

Are you almost thirty years old? The face of the black pharaoh has lost the youthful aura of his early years, and he is no longer as sharp and aggressive as a rampaging bull. His eyes are calm and his demeanor is calm. It is difficult for outsiders to see his true inner thoughts from his micro expressions. The moody tycoon temperament is gone.

"mj owns half of the sony/rights library, have you guys tried to find him?" Doug Morris asked.

"Is it useful to find him?"

Song Ya will naturally not expose the deal with MJ, "As far as I know, although he owns the half, the track management is in the hands of Sony Music."

For specific businesses such as licensing copyrights to external companies, the track management rights owned by the distribution company are decisive.

"Yes, when mj merged with Sony Music's copyright library, it seems that he has entrusted the management rights of the tracks to Sony. He has ownership and can participate in major business changes such as sales and acquisitions, but he has no right to interfere with specific track management. "

Daniel nodded, "MJ himself prefers asset-light allocation that only needs to be managed by a few lawyers."

"Then I have nothing to suggest."

It's not that Doug Morris doesn't understand these things. His question just now was just to elicit the following words, "What about you? Aplus, MJ is in trouble now, and it seems that the financial situation is not good. Are you interested in taking this opportunity to buy it from him? ?”

"I never take advantage of the fire."

Song Ya didn't dare to fully trust Doug Morris, and shook her head to express her lack of interest, "And that copyright library is too big and too expensive."

"Mj and Sony seem to have signed an agreement back then, and both parties have the right of first refusal to each other, and they only need to match external quotations."

Daniel added.

So the next sentence can be drawn, "Or the reverse with MJ? Sony's stock price plummeted today, triggering an earthquake in the Tokyo stock market, and the Nikkei index also plummeted. According to their financial report for the first quarter of 2003, sales Profits were 100 billion yen less than expected."

"hehe."

Although the situation has been frequent since the advent of the xbox, Microsoft, which can’t stand the rich and powerful, would rather hurt others with its own money. Every time Microsoft sells an xbox at a loss, users will probably buy one less Sony 2 game console, plus Other mp3 players such as ipodbeats have revolutionized the life of CD players. It is no wonder that Sony's financial report can still look good.

Song Ya pursed her lips, enjoying the pleasure of revenge a little bit, "Impossible, they have spent countless money on that copyright library for more than ten years, and this small setback is nothing to a large electronics giant, they don't know how to overcome it How many times has it happened like this?"

"Yeah, think how much they burned for Columbia Pictures..." Daniel echoed.

"And you know, my personal relationship with MJ is not very good, and we almost never contact each other." Song Ya said again.

"Well, everyone is having a hard time."

Doug Morris took the opportunity to mention: "Vivendi Universal is also looking for buyers for Universal Entertainment Group and American Television Network."

"We've heard."

Although they have escaped the bankruptcy crisis caused by Andersen’s false accounts by reporting huge losses for two consecutive years, the French are still trapped internally and externally, their ratings have been downgraded, their market value has shrunk, and their liquidity has dried up. The lowest point of stock prices occurred in September last year, which is Messier The day after resignation, thirteen yuan was nominated, which is equivalent to more than 80 billion evaporated compared to the peak.

Because the financial institutions of the two countries were all killed inside, the US government, the French government and investors were furious, and the two places are still investigating Messier and other 'culprits'.

After Messier sold Seagram Liquor, his successor Futu continued to sell off his assets to survive. In October last year, they sold the Vivendi Universal Publishing Group to their French counterpart Lagardère to bail them out. Unfortunately, this deal touched the monopoly lines of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and other countries. Lagardère later had to sell Vivendi 60% of the shares of Di Global Publishing Group were sold to an Italian company, and only 40% of the elite assets were retained.

Last November, Vivendi Universal sold 20 percent of its water giant Veolia.

In February of this year, they sold their French newspaper group again.

A series of fire sales finally relieved Vivendi Universal’s pressure on liquidity, but it was not enough. They had to come back with big ones. This time, Universal Entertainment and American Television Network were put on the shelves, which meant that the French would Disappointedly withdrew from the US media industry.

Doug Morris must have plans in his heart to copy the old ways of Seagram's wine industry. He hopes that the black pharaoh will also take action to take down Universal Music, and he will change his family accordingly, so that he will no longer be angry with Ron Meyer.

But this is impossible. Seagram Liquor is a high-quality asset, and the rescue is to save Uncle Bronfman and his cousin. Universal Entertainment, especially Universal Music, is not doing well, and it contains a lot of personal support from Bronfman Jr. There are some shares. It is said that the US TV network is also in a big bubble. It is impossible for Song Ya to participate in the price hike to help the old enemy get out, and the funds and preparations are insufficient. He and Sloan originally thought that the French should rather sell the game company that is making money. , It is also necessary to firmly maintain the influence of the media in the United States that has been acquired with great difficulty.

Instead, Song Ya was quietly spreading public opinion, trying to influence other potential buyers' desire to buy and mess up the business, "Are any big companies interested?" Just to spy on information.

"It's hard to say for now, as long as the price is right... I think there will definitely be."

It has not yet reached the last moment of throwing everything together, and Doug Morris is still on guard against this aspect.

"He has aged a lot in recent years..."

Song Ya sighed a little as he watched off Doug Morris, who was already full of silver hair, leaving in a low-key manner.

"It's hard for him, Universal Music has actually been on the right track under his management."

Although he didn’t bet on the teen pop trend, but with the gradual digestion of the huge bubble Polygram, coupled with the emergence of super newcomers such as Eminem, Daniel believes that although Universal Music is still losing money, the current situation is not that bad.” If Apple and your music store can help them get back some of the profits from online music piracy, it may not be far from turning a profit."

"Well, let's go."

The two returned to Johnny Carson's mansion, where there was a documentary crew filming the old man's documentary, preparing for the upcoming release of his autobiography.

Johnny Carson is already in very bad health, but today he is still in good spirits. The old man is sitting on the sofa, his young wife is sitting on the left armrest, the autobiographer is on the right, and Jenny, the temporary guest host of the interview, is sitting Across from the three of them, she is also one of the producers of this feature documentary planned by Littman Press and produced by Channel A.

After a few glances outside the door, Song Ya didn't want to go in and disturb her. Song Ya didn't want to be caught by the camera and appeared here. She and Daniel found a place to stay again, waiting for Jenny to get off work.

"Mj will launch a counterattack in the near future, and the location is likely to be in the UK."

David Geffen called Harvey over at the Jack Warner estate in Beverly Hills, "He's already there."

On the contrary, Song Ya has a bad relationship with the upper echelon of the British drama circle but has no deep hatred with the tabloid paparazzi. On the contrary, MJ has a very good relationship with the upper echelon of the British music circle and treats the tabloid paparazzi as enemies.

The two are equally beloved by British fans.

They are both English-speaking countries, so the news of the counterattack in the UK can be sent back to the United States as soon as possible.

Harvey is naturally aware of this, "Counter attack? Or something else?"

"Sony Columbia Records, they just announced that they will release MJ's best album Number Ones in November, which is also part of our deal with Howard Stringer." David Geffen replied.

November is a critical time in their plan. At that time, the District Attorney Tom Sneddon of Neverland will formally bring mj to court again, and Sony Columbia Records will take the opportunity to release mj's best album to make another profit while it is hot , black and red are also red, but the fact that r Kelly was accused of being a big seller of records fully proves this point.

"So mj is still obsessed with those conflicts with sony about the release of the album?"

Harvey laughed, "Then he shouldn't have encouraged fans to drive Rick Rubin away. Who can he blame now? It's too reluctant to let the new president who just took office take the blame."

"Poor Rick, he's still recuperating in Switzerland, licking his wounds," David Geffen said.

"He asked for it, his willpower is too weak."

Harvey complained: "We were all fooled by his beautiful beard."

"Young, your career has been going smoothly."

The two of them had no doubts about Rick Rubin, who had already turned against Song Ya.

"Oh, by the way, the younger one, aplus." Harvey took the opportunity to say, "Recently, he has been running around in Los Angeles for his online music store business. I heard that he has already secured Disney and Warner, and he is publicizing EMI. Is it possible for him? To join forces with mj for sony/copyright library? Otherwise, sony is unlikely to give in. Benzi hates him so much. First he rebelled against Sony Columbia Records, then he went to cooperate with Sega and Microsoft to develop game consoles, and now it is the Walkman online music store business... ..."

"What happened to you?"

After a short time, Harvey raised the issue again, and David Geffen became vigilant, "Didn't I say it last time? Let him go for the time being, we don't care if the book likes or hates him." ?”

"What I mean is that if he passes this test, he will have the right to distribute music online, and the media industry will spread across the board. This is a media group that is not under our control."

Harvey explained: "And Apple, which is killing him too."

David Geffen looked at him suspiciously, "A second-rate media group, and Skinner of A is still a member of our group."

"Okay, okay, anyway, you are the boss." Harvey had no choice but to shut up.

The next day, Song Ya walked out of the headquarters of Capitol Records surrounded by crowds. Capitol Records is one of EMI's two major princes in Beimi.

Today's talk went well. He had already settled down another great prince, Viking Beimi. He waved vigorously to the reporters in the distance.

"Let's go to Mirana." After the awards season, he and the foresters started to busy with their own affairs, only Mira, who was lazy and lazy, hadn't accepted the job yet.

No sooner had the muffler turned the car onto the road than Harley's phone came in.

"Sony plummeted again today! It lost 25% of its market value in two days!"

'Sony shock! '

The book began to name the shocking level of the two-day stock market crash. Sony, which lost 400 billion yen in market value in two days, pulled down the Tokyo stock market and the Nikkei index, and there was a lot of grief.

"hey-hey……"

Song Yale, this is better, isn't it? As yahoo drives the recovery of the Internet sector in the United States, it is time for international hot money to return.

The weaker Sony is, the better it is for itself, and Song Ya is more motivated.

'I have arrived. ’ Old Mike sent a text back from New York in code words.

During this period of time, I will live in Los Angeles for a long time, and the old Mike just took time to deal with the fbi trio... Now it is a duo. Let him continue to be the host of the French popularization program, but assign him a idle job.

According to intelligence, the FBI's internal disciplinary department has already grasped the evidence of his corruption, and the law enforcement department was first called out to complete the final evidence collection, and then arrested him.

The fbi should have done it in the past few days. According to Franklin's report that has been following in New York, the old Mike judged that Hines himself was aware of it.

This is also a very good opportunity to find out the relationship between Hines' upper management.

'ok. ’ Song Ya replied a text message saying he knew.

At the beginning of April, the decline of Sony's stock price slowed down, but the high-level executives had to say something. Howard Stringer, who is in charge of Sony's Beimi branch, was notified and was about to leave for a meeting in Tokyo. Nobuyuki Idei's hint will make himself, not the louder voice, the father Ken Kutaragi, who everyone takes for granted, will take over the position of CEO of the head office.

Nobuyuki Idei must be responsible for this slump. He can only step down as CEO, but he is unwilling to see his compatriot Ken Kutaragi, who is more threatening to himself, take over. A foreign CEO from the United States is more convenient for him to retreat and continue. Seize the position of chairman firmly and firmly control Sony.

Howard Stringer figured out the point in Nobuzhi Idei's heart very clearly that the unexpected "Sony Shock" was an excellent opportunity for his personal career to make great strides, and he would not let it go.

"Let's go." He went out and called his subordinate who was still in the dark, Hirai, the president of Sony Electronics Beimi.

Hirai can barely be considered as part of Ken Kutaragi's faction, but because he lives in Beimi for a long time, the relationship between the two parties is not deep.

This person is very capable of work. Howard Stringer intends to reuse him after he takes over the position. Of course, he must also control him. Of course, Kutaragi Ken is looking for an opportunity to drive him away.

"Boss, that Mr. Hines called again and made an appointment to meet. He said it was very urgent."

A group of people with briefcases were just about to leave when the secretary came out to report.

"Just say I went to Tokyo."

Howard Stringer also grasped some situations. He knew very well that the guy was about to end up at the end of the road, and he was already an unstable factor.

He took out his mobile phone and looked for Giuliani's number, but he hesitated before dialing it. After Giuliani left office, he didn't get an official position in the Georgian government. The former New York mayor has no friends, and now he earns about a million dollars a year?

Severely cracking down on African-American and Latino crimes committed by the Mafia, and changing the security situation in New York in one fell swoop, the "Mayor of the United States" who performed perfectly in the September 11th incident suddenly became a phoenix and a chicken.

"I'm going home first, and I forgot to take something."

Giuliani, who might have lost his mind, made excuses, then found a phone booth on the way home and dialed someone else.

After his plane took off, Franklin drove and tracked Hines with the old Mike all the way to a park in New York.

"Don't expose yourself." Old Mike chose to follow from a distance.

Hines should have an appointment, and he was in a hurry, with a very clear destination, and bought a ticket to board a Ferris wheel in the park.

Sure enough, in the pod he went up to, there was already a thin white man in a suit and leather shoes.

Old Mike took out his telephoto camera and took pictures from a distance, but he didn’t take any satisfactory photos until the ferris wheel started to disembark passengers. Hines, who was gesticulating, spoke.

Needing to find an angle where they could see their faces clearly, Old Mike and Franklin had just set off to approach them in a roundabout way, but they didn't expect a shrill scream to come from there.

"shxt!"

Old Mike quickly pushed Franklin, "Look at his face!" He set up the camera again, and the pod that stopped was surrounded by several tourists, and the person sitting motionless inside was Hines!

"Here you are!" He saw the thin white man rushing out of the crowd in the camera, but he still couldn't see his face clearly. The thin white man pulled up the collar of his suit and shrank his head. He had no choice but to throw the camera at Franklin again.

Due to the twists and turns of the trails in the park, the two people who were afraid of being followed were not far from the straight line of the Ferris wheel, but the distance was not short. Franklin caught the camera and ran towards the Ferris wheel.

"mfxxk!"

When Franklin arrived, the thin white man had disappeared, and Hines died in the pod...

"Now there is only one survivor left in the trio." After getting the report from the old Mike who rushed back to Los Angeles, Song Ya frowned and looked at the photo of Hines who was lying on his back in the pod seat, with one shot on his forehead, chest and lower abdomen. He frowned deeply.

Howard Stringer over there has also arrived in Tokyo. After getting off the plane, he received an empty text message. He felt relieved and put his phone back into his pocket with a smile.

"What's wrong?"

It was only then that he realized that the colleagues who had come to pick him up from the airport were looking at him in a strange way, and most of them looked hesitant to speak.

"Mr. Stringer..."

'Sony is phoney! '

On the iconic double-decker sightseeing bus in London, MJ personally showed a red cardboard that Sony is a liar, and fans on the street also frantically followed him and shouted slogans.

"Let me talk about the fate of outstanding artists, from Sammy Davis to James Brown and Jackie Wilson..."

At the subsequent fan meeting, MJ listed the names of a lot of predecessors, and changed his hand to a cardboard of 'Sony Killed Music'. He said: "These outstanding artists are hardworking, but their fate is the same. Yeah, bankrupt because the labels are really taking advantage of them...Sony."

The booing of the tsunami came down from the stage.

"As a signed artist of Sony, I have brought them billions of dollars in profits, billions, no exaggeration, they thought that an artist like me would focus on music, sing and dance, and hold concerts, but they never expected But I will also look at them in turn..."

"Billions? The megalomaniac!" Howard Stringer rants while watching TV together. "Who would believe it but his psychotic fans!"

The book colleagues all nodded and laughed with ugly faces.

mj then complained a lot about the number ones compilation album, about the announcement of the last invincible album, and then said: "i own half of sony music publishing, so they are very angry at me for trying to leave... "

"The music copyright library and the company's value are indistinguishable..." Howard Stringer was already very impatient.

Damn it, when he was about to leave the United States, and the CEO of the upper head office rebelled, this guy really didn't regret his death! He maintained a relaxed expression in front of his colleagues, but his teeth were itching with hatred in his heart.

"this person……"

MJ took out another piece of cardboard with his own photo on it, and also pasted two devil's red horns, holding a devil's fork, and a line of capital letters below: 'Go back to your hell! Stringer! '

"Howard Stringer, he is a demon, he tried to control me, full of lies..." mj said.

Howard Stringer suddenly felt dizzy and almost passed out on the spot.