Chapter 322 New Choice (1/2)

Like many talented businessmen, he knew that free competition was wasteful and monopoly was efficient. Therefore, his goal was to pursue this effective monopoly. ——"The Godfather"

This film, later produced by Paramount, well interprets the characteristics of capital.

Since the fall of Edison, Paramount has relied on tough means to reach the power center of the film industry and formed a new monopoly.

Throughout the 1920s, Paramount had nearly 500 theaters, most of which were first-run theaters.

In the era when movies could not be released simultaneously, first-run theaters meant the bulk of the box office.

At the same time, independent theater operators were forced to sign a 5-year "blog" contract, that is, a "bundled sales" contract. As long as the theater wanted to show a movie produced by Paramount, it had to buy other films under its umbrella, ranging from a dozen to dozens or even hundreds, including various short films or feature films.

Moreover, in this bundling model, independent cinema operators, as contracting parties, have no right to make their own choices. In other words, under such conditions, even if Paramount makes a lot of bad films, it is not afraid of no sales, and the risks are transferred to these exhibitors.

Once the industry disagrees, Paramount will directly arrange to open a cinema with better conditions opposite it, and take measures such as temporary price cuts to snatch most of the theater's customers in a short period of time, forcing the operator to make a choice.

Throughout the 1920s, Paramount relied on the income from the "blog" contract to expand rapidly, which naturally attracted the attention of regulatory authorities.

In fact, as far as Colin knows, since 1921, the Federal Trade Commission of the United States has begun to file a lawsuit against Paramount's "bundling sales". The case is called "Federal Trade Commission v. Famous Actor-Lasky Company Case".

The entire prosecution and evidence collection process lasted for seven years. In 1927, after collecting as many as 17,000 pages of testimony and 15,000 pages of evidence, the Federal Trade Commission believed that Paramount's "bundling" was indeed an unfair trade practice and required it to stop immediately. It also gave Paramount 60 days to comply with the results of the investigation or provide a written report.

But Paramount didn't care. It didn't submit a report until a year later, in which it strongly denied its monopoly.

From another perspective, Paramount's expansion also happened to represent the first period of rapid development of Hollywood. During the first lawsuit, Hollywood had rapidly grown into one of the top ten industries in the United States. The annual investment is about 2 billion US dollars, the number of films shot has reached more than 500, the number of theaters nationwide has exceeded 20,000, and about 80 million people go to theaters every week.

Such a huge market naturally attracted a lot of capital injection.

Originally, according to the normal prosecution procedure, the regulatory authorities were ready to take action. In fact, in 1930, the US Department of Justice filed two antitrust cases, and later merged the two cases into one lawsuit. The defendants also expanded from the original Paramount to ten film companies including Paramount, MGM, RKO, Fox, Warner, Universal, United Artists, and First National Exhibition Alliance.

It can be said that once the lawsuit is officially effective, the entire Hollywood will face severe punishment, just like Edison at the beginning.

But unfortunately, during this period, something unexpected happened to everyone-the Great Depression.

Under this disaster that swept across the United States, Paramount was the first to taste the consequences of crazy expansion and became the first Hollywood giant to fall.

Although, now because of the Great Depression, the newly elected Roosevelt government did not continue to investigate the issue of the lawsuit. In the current form of Hollywood, once it is investigated by the lawsuit again, the entire film industry may fall apart in an instant.

However, everyone knows that the government will not let these big studios go easily.

"At least, it's not a problem now, right?"

Frowning and suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Otto Kahn looked at Colin in front of him and said calmly.

"But he will become a problem sooner or later. The federal government will not allow a behemoth like Paramount to continue to monopolize the entire film industry, even after the reorganization."

As a latecomer, Colin knew very well that in 1938, shortly after the Great Depression, the US Department of Justice re-filed a lawsuit against Paramount and other eight major studios based on the Sherman Anti-Lass Act.

And this case is also called "United States v. Paramount Pictures".

"This is not a problem I need to consider..."

After thinking for a while, Otto Kahn gave his answer.

"All I need to do is to complete the reorganization of Paramount. As for what Paramount will face in the future, that is Paramount's problem."

Otto Kahn actually represents the power from Wall Street. Paramount needs to use a lot of capital in the process of acquiring theaters. This amount of money is huge even for Paramount. Therefore, when Paramount was making the acquisition, it raised $10 million from an investment company on Wall Street.

Otto Kahn happened to be a partner of this investment company.

Therefore, Otto Kahn is not as indifferent as he said.

The interests of Paramount actually represent the interests of Otto Kahn.

"I plan to acquire Paramount."

Just when Otto Kahn was deliberately shirking his responsibility, Colin in front of him suddenly spoke up and stated his purpose directly.

Colin's sudden statement made Otto Kahn's expression stunned for a moment. He picked up the napkin at hand and wiped his beard stained with sauce to hide the surprise at the corner of his mouth. Otto Kahn then looked at Colin and said, "Now is not a good time to enter the market."

Although Otto Kahn has begun to participate in the restructuring of Paramount, he knows very well that it is impossible for a company, especially a studio with huge assets like Paramount, to complete the restructuring in a short period of time, especially before the Great Depression, Paramount had acquired more than 500 cinemas, which are all issues that need to be specially reviewed.

Even when the regulatory department was investigating Paramount's monopoly problem, it took nearly seven years. Otto Kahn conservatively estimated that Paramount would need at least one year, no, two years to truly complete the restructuring.

"But it is undeniable that Paramount is the largest studio in Hollywood. Even after the reorganization, it still retains important assets."

What is Paramount's most important asset? Naturally, it is the huge number of theaters under its control.

And these are also the focus of Colin's attention.

The reason why he came to Los Angeles to meet Otto Kahn from afar is also because he knows that in the near future, a group of people like him will set their sights on Hollywood and join the film industry with money in hand - the gangster.

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The reason why the gangs are so eager to join the ranks of Hollywood is naturally the "Prohibition" that is about to be officially abolished.

As the group that earns the most profits during the entire "Prohibition" process, with the abolition of the "Prohibition", they must find a new foothold. When legal alcohol can no longer provide huge profits, how to find a new target becomes the first choice of this group. What's more, the benefits obtained by relying on the "Prohibition" are not legal after all, so an investment that can legally launder money is also what they are pursuing.

The film industry seems to meet their needs.

It is precisely because of the consideration that a new amount of funds will flow into the entire Hollywood in the near future that Colin needs to make arrangements in advance.

Although, Paramount has always been his first choice.

After all, no matter in terms of scale or the number of theaters, once it can be captured, it will greatly increase the speed at which Colin will gain [faith] in the future.

But if there is really no way, he does not mind choosing other studios for acquisition.

From Luo Yin Disney, Colin already knows that at present, in addition to Paramount, which has officially entered the reorganization, the financial situation of Fox and 20th Century Studios is also not ideal. Later, these two studios on the verge of bankruptcy are not a 20th Century Fox.

"..."

In the face of Colin's positive attitude, Otto Kahn did not respond immediately.

According to the safest practice, there should be no new third party entering the reorganization of the entire Paramount, so as to ensure that the rights and interests within Paramount will not be damaged too much.

Otto Kahn himself does not want too much capital to be inserted into Paramount, which will undoubtedly affect his own rights.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Colin Luper, I'm not the first party to Paramount's acquisition, so I can't make a decision for Paramount. This requires the bank restructuring team to discuss before giving you a formal reply."

After a long silence, Otto Kahn gave a balanced reason.

But from his tone, Colin could already vaguely sense Otto Kahn's attitude.

As the person in charge of Paramount's restructuring, Otto Kahn actually has an absolute dominant position over the entire Paramount.

"Really? I'm looking forward to a good result."

Although he already had an answer in his mind, Colin still looked expectant on the surface.

"Of course, I will try my best to convey your ideas, Mr. Colin Luper, to everyone in the restructuring team."

Otto Kahn also responded with a smile.

...

In the mutant world, in the gloomy castle.

During this period, Colin has been focusing on the acquisition of film companies in the positive world.

After the meeting with Otto Kahn, he asked Roy Disney to help contact other Hollywood film studios. Fox Film Corporation was the most active in acquisitions. Of course, this is also closely related to Fox's current situation.

A few years ago, two years before the Great Depression of 1927, Fox's leader, William Fox, bought their shares in the Loyin Company after the death of their old rival Marcus Loyin. The company not only owned 200 There are many movie theaters and it is also the parent company of MGM.

However, Louis Meyer, the head of MGM, was angered by the acquisition and quickly launched a counterattack, using his political power to push the Department of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation into Fox Film Company.

What's even more unfortunate is that William Fox himself was injured in a "car accident" during this process, and the subsequent Great Depression wiped out most of his wealth.

The Fox film empire began to fall apart, and William Fox himself even went to jail for debt.

Today, Fox Film Company is facing huge financial problems. William Fox has lost control of Fox Film Company. Even when 20th Century Production Company acquired Fox Film Company, William Fox directly became outsider.

A company named after a surname has finally become someone else's wedding dress. Anyone facing such a situation will feel disheartened.

According to the information Luo Yin received, William Fox had just been released from prison not long ago. The sudden Great Depression had shattered his original ambitious ideas. Now William Fox just wants to get rid of Fox as soon as possible. Obviously the entire Great Depression had a huge impact on him. After all, he himself had actually been imprisoned because of the Great Depression.

It is said that William Fox himself has already considered leaving the film industry.

After learning part of William Fox's situation from Luo Yin, Colin also had the idea of ​​meeting him.

Although Fox Film Company is not as large as Paramount, it also has a large number of theaters under its umbrella, so it is an option.

Of course, the meeting with William Fox required Luo Yin to contact him, and Colin himself also took advantage of this time to return to the mutant world.

I don’t know whether it is because of the relationship between the two dimensions or the increase in fragments of time gems. Compared with the previous counter-world, the flow of time in the mutant world is slower. Colin has experienced so many things in the real world, but in the mutant world, it is only Three days have passed.

During this period, Tony and the Avengers were working hard to repair the damaged belt and began to use the future technology in the cable belt. Even a genius like Tony could not complete the work in a short time, especially Considering that the entire mutant world fell into madness and chaos due to the death of Apocalypse.

Even rational people like Nightcrawler have to hide in shelters to ensure that their consciousness is not overly eroded by the crazy factor.

A large amount of research equipment and professional materials could not be found at the first time. This situation undoubtedly greatly slowed down the restoration of Tony and Banner.