Chapter 1513 The 3rd Battle of the Three Emperors Ends

‘Hey, it’s incredible that I met you! By the way, here is my phone number, CallMeMaybe! '

The footsteps of 2006 have come quietly. Robert Iger ended his vacation early and went to Silicon Valley in a low-key manner.

Like all over the world, the radio stations and streets here also like to play Call Me Maybe. APLUS created it for his ex-girlfriend. This song is surprisingly popular with the movie Enchanted. The 30-year-old Disney princess Amy Adams It was the first cross-border performance, and the first single reached the top of the U.S. billboard, which also drove the huge sales of Enchanted Original Soundtrack.

The performance of the Enchanted movie itself is not as good as Linton and other real-life fairy tale movie gangs boasted before, but it is still a big profit. The 80 million production cost can harvest nearly 400 million dollars in the global box office. The original image of Princess Giselle It provides new IP for peripheral sales and amusement projects, and the film reviews are also good. Film critics like Disney's integration and self-deprecation of classic animations such as Snow White and Mickey Mouse in the film. They agree that Disney's live-action fairy tale movie strategy has got off to a good start .

Iger sounded harsh, and he raised the window.

"You are welcome, Robert."

All the way to Apple headquarters, Jobs gave him a very high courtesy, led a team to greet him, and acted as a tour guide himself.

"What are the chances of us winning the shareholders' meeting in March?"

His personality did not allow Jobs to give up easily. When the two of them were alone after the tour, he asked the first sentence.

"It's hard."

Iger shook his head and smiled wryly. He is still the chief operating officer of Disney. The new CEO Linton still has much less control over the board of directors, and he will not be able to move him for a while.

"Lynton has been raging in the past few months, with high salaries, promotions, stock options, rewarding those who support him with merit, and insisting on driving away the Weinstein brothers in order to avenge his personal revenge... The rumored layoffs have also been silent, He's still playing the same old Eisner game. What about the stock performance? Same, $21."

Jobs held out a finger, "Shareholders are very disappointed when they found out that they supported the wrong person. The shareholding ratio in March was higher than in September's EGM. The gap between the two of you in September is very, very small."

"The mood is different. The shareholders don't want to toss anymore. They are willing to give Linton some time. Linton successfully retained the record department of APLUS and got the distribution rights of Katzenberg DreamWorks Animation. Roy Disney is satisfied , and tend to remain stable.”

Iger replied: "The annual report that has not yet been released should be able to make do. The current low stock price is caused by the large-scale divestment of Goldman Sachs. Linton is also planning to increase the annual dividend by another 12.5%. Shareholders will like it. of."

"Dividends? Hehe... He learned all his methods from Eisner, and he can't play tricks. That's why the nickname Eisner II can be spread more and more widely, isn't it?"

Jobs sneered, and held out his second finger, "Goldman Sachs is doing a good job, they are giving us the last assist, Paulson is not a man without faith, Goldman Sachs led the investment, and funded the Weinstein brothers to create the Weinstein Brothers. Ernstein Films has taken responsibility. March Paulson will continue to cooperate with us, and everyone is still an ally..."

"After the fiasco in September, Goldman Sachs started to pull out of Disney, and the Paulson-George Mitchell alliance began to suffer."

Iger replied: "This year is a midterm election year,

The Donkey Party has a good chance of winning the majority of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Donkey Party politicians do not want George Mitchell and Paulson to continue to get closer. George Mitchell himself has some plans to return to politics in 2008. He It is no longer just to obey Paulson's orders. Me and ABC are also under unprecedented pressure. "

"..."

Iger is rational and calm but seems to have lost his fighting spirit, which made Jobs feel disappointed and lost his voice for a while. He adjusted his emotions before stretching out his third finger, "Don't be discouraged, Robert, didn't you succeed in sniping Disney's wholly-owned company on the board of directors?" Is there a plan to acquire A+ Entertainment? The true colors of Linton and APLUS’s collusion have been exposed. APLUS’s full support for Linton is nothing more than wanting to sell A+ Entertainment, which has not been successful for a long time, for a sky-high price, so that all shareholders of Disney can take over for him. "

"A+ Entertainment owns the copyrights or partial copyrights of Dance My Life series, Fifty Shades of Gray series, Blade Runner series and several related superheroes, the long-term income of Titanic, other games such as Cat and Mouse, Cold Mountain, etc. …there are far more big sellers than big hits, and many of them are sought after by the disc rental market. In recent years, they have acquired the copyrights of old movies and independent movies, making the number of copyrights in the library much better.”

Iger replied: "They also have the right to adapt the best-selling Twilight series. This book is very popular among young women. I heard that it will start shooting soon. Now it is nothing more than the specific acquisition amount. George Mitchell and I It won't stop them for long at the boardroom."

"I know."

Jobs still doesn't give up," but then their alliance with Katzenberg is in question. David Geffen and Spielberg just sold DreamWorks Studios to Paramount for $1.6 billion , and Disney only took over the distribution rights of Katzenberg’s DreamWorks Animation, and Linton obviously intends to repay APLUS first. Before the acquisition of A+ Entertainment, Disney has no money and no motivation to acquire DreamWorks Animation. Katzenberg was only resolved When the distribution problem came up, he suddenly turned around and found that there was still an infinite distance from his dream of returning to Disney and even taking control of the power. It was impossible for him not to be angry..."

"The turnaround between them will at least wait until the end of Cars after the summer vacation, to see if you will keep your promise and lead Pixar Animation to leave... Katzenberg will consider turning back and reconciling with Disney only if he is reassured that Pixar Animation and Disney have formally broken up. The Linton-APLUS alliance is at war..."

Iger replied: "But how meaningful will the war between them be to you and me?"

"Robert..." Jobs was a little annoyed by the other party's tricks.

"Don't talk about Steve, is the shareholder meeting in March?"

Unexpectedly, Iger made a 180-degree turn at this time, "I will do my best to fight with you until that moment, don't worry."

"That's great."

Jobs smiled gratifiedly, and was also a little moved. He changed his mind and revealed, "There is a certain probability that the battle will end before March, and by then..."

"At that time, I have to think about my own future."

Iger said: "Being a bad guy who undermines the stability that Disney has finally recovered, and if I lose again... I am destined not to stay."

"Don't worry, I'm not even inferior to Paulson's reputation."

Jobs made a promise.

After sending Iger away, he went back to work again.

‘I suddenly thought, listening to music anytime and anywhere, why can’t we watch movies anytime and anywhere? You guys know I'm also making movies, right? '

Walking into the office of John Rubinstein, the head of the iPod department, I happened to see the video of Rubinstein's Beats new product launch at the end of last year. In the picture, APLUS was smiling and taking out a black rectangular product display from his pocket: 'So we made this...'

APLUS presses the side control button, and a whole screen lights up, and the screen quality is a huge leap forward compared to previous MP3 players, even not inferior to some high-end mobile phones. Commercial film shot for this product.

All the audience stood up excitedly and cheered loudly.

'I call it BeatsVideo! Using the revolutionary MP4 technology format...'

APLUS turned up the volume, and the sound was very infectious, 'So it's not MP3, it's MP4! for real! The era of multimedia walkmans has come! '

The audience applauded frantically for a long time.

It was only at this time that Rubinstein noticed the arrival of the Apple Emperor, "very wonderful product and launch event." He said contemptuously, "but it just can't be sold..."

Rubinstein is playing with the commercially available version of BeatsVideo, "It's too big, too heavy, too expensive, and it doesn't control overheating well, just like his company's graphics card in the XBOX360."

At the end of last year, Microsoft’s new game console XBOX360 came out, using a 3DFX customized version of the display chip. Due to the failure to solve the heat problem, users often have crashes with three fault lights on at the same time after buying home, and the repair rate is as high as two-thirds. , and it has not been completely solved until now, many users have to send it for repairs many times, and it is dubbed The Red Ring of Death: the red ring of death.

Buying a good XBOX360 is equivalent to winning the lottery, and the user reputation established by the first generation XBOX is completely destroyed.

Before Sony's PS3 came out, Microsoft itself led itself into the ditch.

At present, Microsoft's game console department is fighting with 3DFX, throwing blame at each other, and shirking responsibility.

"Do you think I'm too optimistic, Steve."

Rubinstein felt that His Majesty's expression staring at the TV was too serious, so he asked.

BeatsVideo's body proportions and full screen are too similar to the secret product that Apple is developing, and although its market share is far lower than Apple's, it is not a competitor that can not be defeated and can maintain some technological leadership for a long time, and its style is not inferior. What a good thing, consumer electronics products are updated too fast, maybe in which generation they relax and let the other party overtake and take away the market share.

If there is a big mistake at the level of XBOX360, it will be replaced faster.

Beats is different from other competitors. Its parent company, Palm, is a local technology giant in the United States. The political and business influence of its boss, APLUS, is also strong enough to counter Apple. Many American companies’ methods of dealing with foreign companies are ineffective against Palm.

Of course Jobs was not optimistic, but Rubinstein didn’t know about the secret project, and he didn’t plan to tell the other party, “We will continue to put pressure on Beats before March, public opinion offensive, patent war, supply chain war, channel war, etc. . . . I want your full devotion."

"OK."

Rubinstein knew that His Majesty lost to APLUS in Disney last September, and it is not difficult to imagine that he would be eager to get back the game according to his character, "But I want to remind you Steve, it is best to put the The flagship store on Fifth Avenue was opened. The project has been delayed for too long and the cost is too huge. Our shareholders can't understand whether it is worthwhile to pay so much for a franchise store. In order to wait for those beautiful big glass... Amelio We are helping APLUS use this project to make a big fuss and confuse the shareholders. Last year we blocked their attack, but it doesn’t mean that this year will be able to..."

"That's not something you need to be concerned about."

Because of the epic success of the iPod series, Rubinstein’s power and influence in Apple and even the industry have grown, and he himself has become more and more inflated. Jobs, who has a perverted desire to control, naturally doesn’t like this very much, and abruptly leaves After saying a word, he turned and left.

On the other side, Song Ya also ended her vacation early, got out of the car with a dark face, and walked into her home in Chicago's Highland Park.

"Alex? Why are you back? Didn't you go skiing with Mimi and Rega in Aspen?"

Aunt Susie asked strangely.

"It's a quarrel, and I'm so mad." Song Ya replied.

The in-laws are used to quarreling with Aunt Susie, "What's the reason this time?"

"snow boots."

"What snow boots?"

"She insisted on wearing Dior's snow boots to take pictures with reporters, but I didn't allow her to wear them, so there was a quarrel."

"WTF? You ran back just for that?"

"You don't know, those snow boots are very cumbersome, especially short legs, Aspen is cold, people have to wear very thick, and the down jacket is so ugly that it breaks through the sky." Song Ya complained.

"That's not enough... Let her wear whatever she wants, you are all old, don't be so childish."

"As for the noise, it gave me a headache, and my ears are still buzzing."

It is indeed a trivial matter, but the two people who have just got back together are still the same as before, you want this, I want that, and they refuse to give in to each other, and then they quarreled in the dark, "We broke up again."

For his ex-wife, Song Ya likes it. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is grateful to his ex-wife for saving his life when he was shot and unconscious. Song Ya couldn't bear to get along day and night like that, quarreled for three days and quarreled for five days, and couldn't hold on in less than half a year, exhausted physically and mentally.

Coupled with the sudden conflict between XBOX360 and 3DFX, BeatsVideo applauded but not sold, and Linton’s various affairs in charge of Disney did not go smoothly. The joy of defeating the enemy in September also gradually faded. Staying in the cold Aspen to spend time with my ex-wife on vacation and skiing, the snow boot incident was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After so many years, Song Ya feels that the two may have more affection for each other. Little Leijia's father, little Leijia's mother, so be it...

"Oh." Aunt Susie rolled her eyes, not surprised.

"Xuelin, Jenny, don't you want to argue about Twilight? Come to Chicago to argue, I'm back."

Hearing that Song Ya had already started calling the forest, he rolled his eyes again.

"You're still adamant about postponing the Twilight movie project until the trilogy is done, right?"

After the fiasco of the Sahara project, Jenny, who won the movie concubine, has completely given up the idea of ​​staying in the entertainment circle, focusing on fulfilling the executive work of Houghton Mifflin in Boston, and only occasionally being invited by friends to come back to Hollywood or act as a guest The supporting characters are purely helpful.

"Well." Jenny nodded, "This is the suggestion of all professionals, and it is also the choice to maximize the benefits."

An angry look appeared on Xue Linfen's face. The two women had already broken up because of this incident, and their relationship was extremely bad.

"Then you still insist on shooting the first part of Twilight as soon as possible, and the whole series of projects and staggering will be carried out simultaneously, right?" Song Ya asked Xue Linfen again.

"Eremov and I have made a plan. We will shoot one as soon as it comes out. When the painting starts, it will coincide with the release of the sequel. Isn't that good?"

With so many opportunities to practice mobile phones, Xue Linfen is almost a qualified producer now, and there is nothing wrong with her words, "We all have favorite candidates for the hero and heroine. Young and beautiful white boys and girls can't wait. Values ​​get less and less appropriate for the character over time..." she said.

"Who?" Song Ya and Jenny asked at the same time.

"Ben Barnes and Jane Prosco." Xue Linfen announced the two names.

Song Ya and Jenny have never heard of it. Xue Linfen showed them their resumes. Yes, they were well selected. Ben Barnes is a newcomer in the West End of London, and Jen Prosco is a newcomer to Hollywood TV dramas. Then the acting skills should be basically online. This kind of vampire-skinned idol love drama bone, it takes many years to shoot a youth campus series movie, so it is natural to choose a newcomer who is cheap enough and good-looking, and is willing to sign multiple long-term contracts.

"OK..."

Song Ya nodded in agreement, "Then, let's settle the matter in the next two days. Since you all insist on your opinions, let me see who is more eager to win."

"How to judge?" Jenny asked suspiciously.

"Of course it's based on my subjective judgment..." Song Ya smirked, took the hands of the two women respectively, and came up with an absurd idea.

"As expected of you..." Jenny rolled her eyes and complained, but it was impossible to admit defeat, so she obediently joined Xue Linfen and was led into a special room.

Later, she lost, and Xuelin Fen, who was more experienced and more relaxed, completely defeated her.

The degree to which the two are willing to pay for the Twilight project is obviously not at the same level.

So the first part of Twilight: The Twilight project was launched, and the snapshots were quickly cut, catching up with the 2006 summer vacation.

The result was also very good, and it sold well all over the world. Xue Linfen finally became one of the most powerful female producers in Hollywood with this series, and the hero and heroine also became popular.

This is just a small episode. Song Ya's main energy is still in the business of its subsidiaries. Soon after, the cause of the XBOX360 failure was found out. The culprit was the solder joint design of the motherboard. 3DFX cleared up its grievances and maintained its cooperation with Microsoft. However, due to the contradictions accumulated during the struggle with Microsoft's game console department, there is a lot of uncertainty in the follow-up cooperation between the two parties.

The all-round fight between Palm and Apple is the main theme, and it never stops for a day.

"The 78th Academy Awards for Best Actress, the winner is... Charlize Theron! The North! Congratulations!"

In this awards season, Song Ya finally helped Charis realize her dream of being a queen. The Northern Wind is a feminist award-winning film adapted from real events and released at the end of last year. It tells the story of a female miner with the help of a lawyer. The story of winning the first sexual harassment class action case in Mimi.

This issue is very in line with the current political correctness. Back then, Julia Roberts also relied on a similar theme of "Never Compromise" to win the actress.

Northern Wind and Cloud is a much weaker movie than Never Compromise, but Charliss dedicated her acting skills, and with the full support of the Black Pharaoh, she defeated a lot of strong opponents and made at least one award-winning movie every year Persistence finally paid off.

"Congratulations, Charis."

Later at the Vanity Fair dinner, Song Ya opened her arms to welcome Charis who flew into her arms, "Are you happy?"

"Of course! Thank you, my dear." It was very difficult for Charis, who was known as a porn star, to take too many exposure scenes. She naturally knew that without the help of the black pharaoh, it would be difficult for her to defeat Reese, who is far more powerful in Hollywood today. Witherspoon, without hesitation, left a red lip mark on a man's cheek in public.

"Ai Meibo ah?" Song Ya turned her gaze to a blond newcomer, Bai Niu, who was with her, and pinched her chin casually with a smile.

"Hey, now I also need someone to help me play the young me." Charis lamented the young Yi Lao, Amber, and Amber Heard played her when she was young in North Wind and Cloud, with very few roles.

Being able to get this role naturally shows that Amber Heard and Charis are similar in appearance and temperament. Compared with Charis, Amber Heard has a softer facial contour and a smaller figure The well-proportioned, youthful face is also top-notch and very attractive.

Moreover, she is much more open-minded than when Charis was the same age, and her ambition even seems to be stronger.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. APLUS." Amber Heard didn't miss this opportunity, boldly flirting with the black pharaoh in front of Charis.

Charis noticed this, and in order to express her gratitude, she made a rare exception to help beat the side drum, and the three rolled together that night.

and the many nights that followed...

In March, Disney's shareholder meeting will be held again.

"Let's try one last time for Jobs and Iger, George, all right?"

Perseverance is a must-have character for the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Although Goldman Sachs held much less Disney stock after half a year, Paulson still saw hope. All the shareholders saw it, and they drove Eisner out, so why put up with an Eisner II?"

"Oh! Try it then."

George Mitchell was not so active. Paulson was right. He had already seen Linton's infighting ability and only infighting, but this skill was enough to deal with him! The CEO was replaced by Linton. His influence as the chairman of the board was greatly weakened compared with the late Eisner administration, and he was once again emptied. Purely in terms of energy, without Harvey's help, he was completely unable to compete with Bi Ai. Eisner was still much younger, and Linton was around, which is still far from the level of power at Disney that Linton had at the peak of Eisner.

I know my own affairs. As the chairman, I still have more bad things to do right now, but it is definitely not enough to make things happen.

"Harvey shouldn't just bow his head and leave so easily." George Mitchell now misses Harvey very much. "If he insists on Linton, I can probably keep him at the board level."

"No way, Harvey's style is that he often has to rely on Disney's legal department to help wipe his ass afterwards. Linton threatened him that if he didn't leave, the Disney legal department would take the initiative to terminate the non-disclosure agreements signed with those actresses. He had no choice but to leave... Will it be ruined and bankrupted by those harassed, semi-forced actresses."

Paulson replied: "At least he can still maintain basic decency."

"Yes, you have done your best to him." George Mitchell complimented.

"Well, what should we do? We still need to talk about reputation. After all, Harvey really does his best for our affairs..." Paulson also consciously did this, which is interesting enough.

"BOSS." At this moment, his subordinates hurried over, "Jobs seems to have tricked us."

"What do you mean?" He wondered.

"He and Larry Ellison have just sold their Apple and Disney shares to each other with APLUS and completed the share exchange." The subordinate reported.

"What!?" Paulson almost jumped up angrily, "Is the news true?"

"Indeed, they don't seem to dare to take the risk of Disney and Apple's shareholder meeting fighting each other. The share swap is equivalent to defending the basic market of Disney and Apple. The Apple stock held by APLUS and its investment bank has dropped below 5%. Jobs and Larry Ellison have cleared their Disney stocks, and an announcement should be made soon. Apple and Palm seem to be reaching a settlement agreement to exchange and share some patents."

"So Pixar Animation is officially leaving Disney soon?"

Paulson sat down, "Where are you going? And where is Iger? What about Iger?"

"It is rumored that Linton is willing to pay Robert Iger a huge severance compensation, buy him out, and Jobs may take him in."

I was being tricked by a monkey again?

again?

"A bunch of bastards!" Paulson scolded.

"Uh, there seems to be rumors in Washington that the George dynasty really seems to be considering Purcell who just left Morgan Stanley."

"if that……"

If the revolving door is closed to him, then he has no choice but to run away as soon as possible. The current situation in the financial market in the United States can't be hidden from the head of Goldman Sachs, so it's better to leave early...

but……

So angry!

"APLUS! Jobs! You bloody bastards!"

Violent roars erupted from the Goldman Sachs chairman's office.

Thank you Wang Duoyu from the starting point, the heart of the empty cup, and the lord who has stepped on the double star and traveled the world to reward!

Thank you so much!

What holes are left unfilled? Book friends are welcome to leave this chapter and say to help me add it, I will read it.