Chapter 960: The Helm

After nearly six years, in the second half of 2009, Alan Wilson officially resigned from the position of chairman of the board of directors of Coca-Cola Group. During the interview, he talked about the acquisition at the beginning of 2004, the half-hour conversation that had left his name in film history, and Li Qian.

He said: "Before we met, we collected information about each other in great detail, so I knew that Qi was the real manager of Minghu Culture. At that time, no matter how I analyzed it from various angles, my assistants told me that Li was An artist, a singer, a great musician, a lead singer, an actor, a director, etc., he has many identities, he is an all-rounder in art, but he is not a businessman, he is very I am concerned about this acquisition, but he will not interfere with specific negotiations, because he is a very self-aware person. Later, he asked me to meet, and I was surprised, and my assistants were also surprised.”

"We walked and talked for about half an hour. The outside world has always been very interested in what we talked about during this half hour. In fact, it is very simple. This process is that Li is constantly breaking his image in my mind. . However, in the end we came to an agreement.”

"Lee may not be a qualified businessman, he is not as penny-pinching as others, but he is an excellent strategist, he knows what he needs to do when, and is extremely decisive! If he finds himself to do This, then it will be at any cost! It turns out that although we made a very suitable business, we got rid of a burden that has been losing money for many years, and we got a lot of relief, and we have a big one. This sum of cash can be used to reorganize many factories under the company, but the business negotiation is completed, and Li got more things. Far more than what we imagined at the time, and my assistant reminded me! "

"Later I learned that he is the kind of real leader. In his art empire, he rarely interferes with specific operations, he has all the things he can not do for him, but he is responsible for the entire company. Qi never objected to what he said at critical moments. He didn't need to convince anyone. As long as he thought it should be done, his friends would trust him without doubt. Follow him!"

"So, for $3.1 billion, we sold a rich gold mine! The irony is that we can actually sell it two or three years later, and in those two years, we don't even have to do anything . However, we didn’t know that at the time.”

…………

On the morning of Tuesday, January 20, 2004, US Eastern Time, the US Department of Commerce officially approved the acquisition of Columbia Pictures by Minghu Culture.

At this point, the acquisition is completely completed.

From the moment the U.S. Department of Commerce approved the acquisition contract, in a legal sense, Columbia Pictures has completely become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minghu Culture.

On the same day, Glenn Shire, the executive chairman of Columbia Pictures, held a press conference to announce his resignation as the executive chairman of Columbia Pictures.

He said that the reform was not halfway, which made him very reluctant. However, at this time, he was not willing to wait for the acceptance of Minghu Culture as a left-behind CEO. Therefore, he chose to resign and hoped that Minghu Culture After taking over Columbia, he was able to run the company well.

After the press conference, under the supervision of relevant company personnel, he calmly left Columbia's office building with his packed personal belongings.

That afternoon, at the company's internal high-level meeting, another vice president with a decisive attitude announced his resignation—he was the kind who strongly resisted Colombia being acquired by a Chinese company.

After the meeting in the afternoon, Columbia Pictures officially announced that it had been decided at the company's high-level office meeting that the company's senior vice president, David Emerch, would temporarily serve as the executive president to maintain the company's normal operations and wait for Acceptance of Minghu culture.

Suddenly, the turmoil in Colombia attracted the attention of the whole United States.

Although they have been in turmoil for many years in the past, and the frequency of senior management changes is definitely the fastest among the seven major Hollywood film companies, but this time, after all, it is different from the past.

Columbia Pictures has changed owners.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004, in the morning.

Witnessed by countless reporters, countless cameras and video cameras, a Bentley stopped in front of the building of Columbia Film Company, and Qi Jie, the general manager of Minghu Culture, officially stepped into the office building of Columbia.

Before entering the building, the scene of Qi Jie turning around and smiling at the reporters and nodding, on the same day and the next day, successively made headlines on the front pages of major newspapers and online news platforms in the United States, and frequently appeared on many TV programs—— This means that Minghu Culture, a Chinese company, has really arrived!

However, to the disappointment of the reporters and many spectators, Li Qian, who was standing behind Qi Jie when they reported the signing ceremony, seemed to disappear all of a sudden after the two parties signed the contract.

At such a ceremonial and historical moment, he, as the true master of Minghu culture, unexpectedly did not appear in front of Columbia’s office building with China Qi, and walked in together.

In the morning of that day, it was said that China Qi had participated in the internal high-level meeting of Columbia Film Company. In the afternoon, Columbia officially held a press conference, and Qi Jie appeared on the rostrum of the conference.

She announced three things:

First, Minghu Culture has officially announced to take over Colombia;

Second, the current management structure and management personnel within Columbia Pictures will not be changed;

Third, within three years, Minghu Culture will not carry out any large-scale asset splitting, layoffs or salary reductions for Columbia Films, and everything will focus on maintaining the company's stability and normal operations.

However, Qi Jie did not give any plan for the change of the company's top management, which is widely concerned by the outside world. Even after announcing the three things, she did not accept the reporter's question, and directly gave up the microphone. After the company's acting CEO David Emerch made a few brief remarks, he announced the end of the press conference.

The outside world gave an interpretation based on this. Minghu Culture has acquiesced in David Emerch's position as the acting CEO, and he will continue to handle the company's daily affairs before Minghu Culture formally completes the overall takeover of Columbia. However, if you want to To take off the word "agent" and officially take over the company, David Emerch obviously needs a period of time to investigate.

Moreover, the American press generally speculates that Minghu Culture should send two to three Chinese to the senior management of Colombia to oversee the operation of the company and represent the will of the parent company, Minghu Culture, to supervise the parent company’s intentions to be accurate and accurate. Execution without compromise.

In addition, the outside world generally speculates that the Hollywood producer John Dess, who has been very close to Minghu Culture before and has almost become the spokesperson of Minghu Culture in the Western world, may reach the sky in one step.

However, these questions have not yet been answered.

However, that afternoon, the ubiquitous paparazzi in Hollywood had already discovered Li Qian's trace - he and Liao Liao leisurely appeared in a restaurant in Los Angeles and had dinner together.

And that afternoon, after Qi Jie left Columbia's office building, he drove back to the mansion that Liao Liao bought in Los Angeles.

At least dozens of paparazzi waited outside the mansion all night.

They did not invite any guests that night.

…………

After dinner, Liao Liao curled up on the sofa and looked at the two people over there.

Li Qian and Qi Jie each held a thick stack of documents in their hands.

The development of the company in the past five years has already been sorted out, which is very important. The past history can allow Li Qian and Qi Jie to interpret the company as correctly as possible, and provide them with opportunities for future development. The development direction formulated by the company should avoid negligence and mistakes as much as possible.

At the same time, there are more than a dozen personal resumes and extremely detailed information.

From the executive president, vice president and other senior executives of the company in the past five years, to the people who are considered qualified to enter the management of Columbia and therefore included as candidates, the detailed information of each person, they are in What decisions have been made in the past few years and how effective they are are all in the hands of Li Qian and Qi Jie.

And in fact, they have been reading these materials since half a month ago.

Now that the acquisition has been officially completed, the next thing to do is to spend time and energy to truly control this company - it is obviously impossible to just buy it, but not listen to the announcement.

However, it is well known in ancient and modern China and abroad that personnel issues are the most difficult and most important issues.

The first point is that they must select a suitable helm for Columbia Pictures as soon as possible-certainly must be someone from Hollywood, must be familiar with Hollywood and the American way of playing, and preferably have a certain understanding of Columbia.

Even if the candidate selected this time is only a figure in the transitional period, his importance cannot be overestimated—Columbia must not enter a long period of turmoil!

Otherwise, if the turmoil in personnel and management continues, unable to keep up step by step, even if Minghu Culture can provide them with a certain amount of blood transfusion in the future, it will not be able to withstand such management turmoil at all. ——And Li Qian would never allow himself to spend so much money to buy Columbia, but just sit back and watch this company continue to decline, and even be directly removed from the top seven in Hollywood!

Then this acquisition that shocked China and the United States will become a laughing stock.

Of course, Liao Liao felt very bored watching them keep flipping through the materials there.

Twenty or thirty minutes later, Qi Jie went through all the materials on hand again, and Qi Jie finally spoke, and was the first to say: "John Deiss is not suitable. He can be the spokesperson of Minghu Culture in Hollywood, and he can be in charge of Oriental Dream." film company, but he is not suitable to represent Minghu culture in Colombia."

Li Qian pursed his lips, then nodded slowly.

This was the first person Qi Jie killed, although this person contributed a lot to this acquisition, and he definitely met many selection criteria.

For example, he is familiar with Hollywood, he knows the operating rules of Hollywood, and it is not difficult for him to get familiar with Columbia.

But Li Qian still nodded.

He really wasn't a good fit.

He may be a very qualified, even a very good producer, and he is also very capable in distribution and negotiation. However, let him take charge of such a large film company, especially one that is in turmoil. For a film company, he seems a little underweight - his ability and experience are probably not as good.

But fortunately, it is not difficult to deny him, and he has already stated his position before that he considers himself not qualified to be in charge of Columbia, and even recommended another person.

Afterwards, Li Qian asked, "Where's David Emerge?"

Qi Jie hesitated when she heard the words.

During the acquisition period, David Emerge, as the senior vice president of Columbia, although his attitude was ambiguous, never publicly expressed his opposition to the acquisition of Minghu Culture. Instead, he praised Li Qian personally and went to the company to talk to him in the morning , It can also be felt that he does not have much aversion to the acquisition of Columbia, and he is also friendly to the Minghu culture from China.

This is a person who can cooperate - for Minghu culture, if you want to integrate into the Hollywood circle, as long as you don't dislike Minghu culture, you can cooperate.

And, John Days highly recommends David Emerge.

As a person who has a deep understanding of Hollywood, John Days himself may not be suitable to be the CEO of Columbia, but his suggestions for this candidate are still very meaningful.

What's more, he is now the acting CEO of Columbia, and taking advantage of the situation to straighten him up and remove the word "agent" is the least stressful personnel change plan for Minghu Culture.

But Qi Jie still hesitated.

After a while, she said: "According to past data, David Emerge is a conservative person."

Li Qian was silent, but nodded slowly.

After a pause, Qi Jie continued: "Besides, when Glenshire was the executive president in the past, Glenshire was a staunch reformer, and what David Emerge did was to use a slightly conservative approach. plan to neutralize Grenshall's radicalism. So it may be okay to let him be the CEO temporarily, but in the long run, I remember what you said, we need time. The reason for the quick knife at any cost Isn't it just to buy time to smooth out the Columbia side? If David Emerge is appointed as the executive president, maybe the company can stabilize quickly, but I think it is difficult to make any progress and change."

Li Qian nodded again.

This is exactly what he is deeply worried about.

John Days didn't know what he was thinking, so when recommending David Emerch, he repeatedly emphasized that David Emerch can bring the most important "stability" to Columbia at this stage.

But what Li Qian needs is moderate stability, not turbulence, but it is definitely not the conservative stability of David Emerch—Columbia has been losing money for more than ten years, can it continue to lose money steadily?

However, he is also hesitant: David Emerch is indeed the currently known candidate, the candidate with the least cost and the least turmoil.

It just wasn't quite right enough.

Qi Jie looked at Li Qian, and said: "Or, let him do this first, 'representing' for a while? Then, let's choose slowly? When will we find a suitable candidate and replace him? "

Li Qian shook his head firmly.

Immediately, he stood up and walked around the huge living room, just as he had a calm face when he faced obstacles in the acquisition before, and he was silent.

At this time, Qi Jie stopped talking.

In her heart, Li Qian is such a person: he has a firm goal and will never compromise. He will completely let go of many things to himself, and have 100% absolute trust in himself. But at certain times, certain things are so important that he feels that he has been crushed and can't stand upright, he will always find out at the first time, and then immediately take over the heavy burden.

Moreover, he will make a quick decision after a period of silence.

There may be some sacrifices, and it may not be perfect, but as soon as he makes a decision, the burden on his shoulders will be lifted immediately-and in fact, the past few decisions have finally proved that he is correct.

For example, when we were just starting out, facing Huage Records' crossing the river and demolishing bridges, and facing such a giant as Huage Records, I was a little hesitant and didn't know how to express my anger, but Li Qian firmly gave the direction: he Since you underestimate me, then give him some power!

Another example is the recent acquisition.

3.1 billion seems to be a lot of wasted money, but Qi Jie knows that as long as the company can be revitalized after taking over Columbia, let alone a few hundred million, even if it is an extra billion, after revitalization Colombia will still make them a lot of money.

It's just that she doesn't have the courage to make this determination and give that price to make a final decision.

And now, it seems that such a moment has come.

John Deiss was killed by himself and Li Qian. Now, David Emerge feels that he is barely suitable, at least as a transitional candidate, it should be considered suitable.

But Li Qian seems to have killed him.

In spite of John Dyce's repeated recommendations, it was useless.

He has considerations in his heart that others don't know and can't understand.

Two or three minutes later, Li Qian sat back and looked through the documents again. Qi Jie leaned over slightly, and saw that what he saw was not the analysis and resume of one of them, but the administrative analysis of the company in the past few years.

After more than ten minutes, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Qi Jie, "What do you think of Glenshire?"

Qi Jie was surprised.

Glenn Shire was firmly opposed to the acquisition of Minghu Culture, even a little disgusted, so he announced his resignation immediately after the acquisition was approved by the US Department of Commerce.

This is a person who has a certain hostility to Minghu culture.

He wasn't even listed as a candidate for the executive president at all, and Qi Jie didn't have his detailed information in his hands.

At this time, Qi Jie thought for a while after hearing the words, and said: "He was the one selected by Coca-Cola back then, and he was not friendly to us."

Li Qian pursed his lips and thought for a moment, then suddenly said: "It's okay!"

After a pause, he said: "I want to visit him tomorrow, and I plan to invite him to China to see the complete set of 3D technology that we are about to form!"

Qi Jie was even more surprised.

3D technology has always been a high-level secret within Minghu Culture. Before that, even the interior was only allowed to be visited and understood at a very high level and within a small range.

However, at this time, Li Qian said with a smile: "From the policy direction since he took office, his reform plan for Colombia, and the production plans of several films he personally presided over, I think this Glenshire is a discerning person. He knew what was wrong with Colombia and he had a plan that felt like a bad idea."

"Even, I think the several films he participated in and led, I think he has grasped the market very accurately. If my expectations are not bad, when those few films are released one after another this year, they shouldn't be too bad!"

"It's just that he needs time, and our sudden acquisition should have disrupted his plan and made him a little too angry!"

Speaking of this, he seemed to have become firmer, "Except that he was a little too anxious, his personality seemed to be a little aggressive, and he seemed to lack some tact as a high-level leader... Well, that's right, it's him .He's a good fit at the helm."

Qi Jie looked at him, hesitant, "So... you plan to convince him, who hates our acquisition of Columbia, to take charge of Columbia?"

Li Qian laughed when he heard this, "So what!"

"I give him money, I give him time, and I give him power!"

At this time, Liao Liao, who was sitting on the sofa next to him and felt like he was about to fall asleep, suddenly interjected, "tsk tsk" twice, with an exaggerated performance, "husband, you are so courageous!"

Qi Jie glanced at her with disgust.

Li Qian laughed haha, "Stop doing this!"

Liao Liao stood up and said, "So, is this considered as the end of your discussion?"

Qi Jie put away the disdain on his face, thought for a while, and said: "If he doesn't see you at all, or if he really dislikes us, even if he has seen our 3D technology, he still refuses, and even if he doesn't I don't agree with your ideas, and I don't think much about the future of 3D movies... What should I do?"

Li Qian pursed his lips, thought for a while, and said firmly: "Judging from what he has done in the past few years, he is a determined person, and has always been. So I think... no!"

Qi Jie shrugged and looked at Liao Liao.

Liao Liao laughed, "He's just so confident!"

Qi Jie also laughed when she heard the words, then she stood up and said, "Okay, I agree."

Liao Liao snapped his fingers, "Yeah! It's finally over, so how do we sleep next?"

***

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