Chapter 561： Netflix Action

"In 1994, a series of outstanding films emerged, which was the most grand 'big year' award in the past 20 years, including "Forrest Gump", "The Lion King", "Pulp Fiction", "Burning Years", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Behind the Scenes Lies", "Nier's Heart" and a series of unforgettable films."

"Fortunately, in the past 2002, we once again saw this kind of good film springing up. Not only "Star Wars 2", "Spider-Man 2", "Omen", "Harry" Commercial blockbusters like Potter and the Philosopher's Stone also have many excellent art films. This year's awards season will be surging in all directions, attracting the attention of the world, intense and proud!"

"Look at the great works of the past year, "The New York Times," "The Moment," "About Schmidt," "The Adaptation," "Chicago," "The Pianist," "Far From Heaven"... and There is the majestic Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers! There is no doubt that this year's awards season will be very competitive and full of suspense..."

Dunn looked at the "Entertainment Weekly" in his hand and shook his head amusingly.

This year's awards season is indeed unprecedented.

But is there really suspense?

He was deeply disapproving.

New Universal's four films "New York City", "Chicago", "The Pianist", and "Every Moment" can swept away all monsters!

Every film is eligible for the grand prize!

For now, what makes Dunn more concerned is MGM!

MGM now trades at $13.02 with a market cap of $3 billion.

However, it is obviously impossible to buy MGM for $3 billion.

Gambling tycoon Kirk Kirkley is ruthless and ruthless. At the age of 85, he can still play financial leverage with ease.

The current MGM, despite years of deficits and poor performance, has no debt pressure, because Kirk Kerkorian invests a large amount of money every year to maintain the stability of the stock price.

Since his third acquisition of MGM in 1996 for $1.3 billion, he has invested another $1.7 billion in the past six years.

In other words, Kirk Kerkorian has invested a full $3 billion after buying MGM for the third time!

With the greedy nature of Kirk Kerkorian, it is absolutely impossible to sell at the "low price" of 3 billion US dollars.

Otherwise, for the past six or seven years, wasn't he busy working in vain?

Such a huge sum of money, even if it is deposited in the bank, after so many years, the interest will be 400-500 million US dollars.

In businessman's terms, in Kirk Kerkorian's point of view, he did the right thing, anyway, the value of MGM can be seen by everyone, there are so many companies rushing to make an offer, he just needs to delay Enough.

Now is the golden age of video discs, and the massive film library is the guarantee of maximizing the value of video discs.

MGM has a library of nearly 4,200 films and 10,600 TV episodes, as well as the crown jewel "007" series, as well as "Rocky" and "Hannibal" series.

These are the greatest strengths of Kirk Kerkorian!

It has long been spread in the industry.

In the past, the definition and resolution of traditional DVDs could not satisfy the appetite of movie fans. The latest playback devices also need higher-definition picture support, not only DVD players, but also Sony's ps3 and Microsoft's xbox game consoles.

In this case, Microsoft and Toshiba will cooperate to launch the hd-dvd high-definition format standard, while Sony will launch the bd Blu-ray high-definition format standard by itself.

This kind of "standard" competition is very fierce. Although hd-dvd has not been officially launched at present, and the research and development of Blu-ray has just started, the two sides have already launched a market competition.

The most important direction, of course, is the movie!

The DVD production medium of Hollywood movies is the core of promoting the "standard" of high-definition!

Because Sony is very enthusiastic about MGM, and Microsoft, a technology company, is also organizing a team to inspect MGM and want to take it in.

Such news is very unfavorable for Dunn.

The tougher the competition, the more it will cost to acquire MGM.

"Ring Ling Ling…"

The office phone rang, Dunn answered, it was Michael Ovitz.

"Tang En, Redstone has moved!"

Tang En raised his brows, "What action?"

"I also just got the news that Lei Shidong came forward and contacted Merrill Lynch to set up a Melrose private equity fund in the name of Merrill Lynch and Paramount." Michael Ovitz was a little heavy.

Tang En also understood and opened his eyes wide, "You mean... assortment of investments?"

Michael Ovitz said: "That's right! This is a foundation that focuses on smashing investments!"

Dunn sneered, "This old guy, he's still not giving up. Do you really think that the combined investment can save Paramount? This Melrose Foundation is even more ridiculous. It cooperates with Hollywood film companies and has no insiders involved in the operation of the project. , sooner or later, there will be no bones left! Paramount is notorious for this."

Michael Ovitz shook his head: "The Melrose Foundation is a small thing, but it's probably a start. Wall Street private equity funds and VC banks have been paying close attention to Legendary's financial statements recently. I think...except Melrose In addition to the fund, more investment funds will enter Hollywood, and even... are likely to imitate the management model of Legendary Pictures!"

Tang En pondered for a while and nodded, "Well, Michael, the plan to go public must start immediately!"

"Well, I have discussed with the investors and obtained their approval. If possible, in August...or September of this year, Legendary Pictures can go public."

"Okay! Then I'll wait for the good news!"

Hanging up the phone, Tang En sat for a while, then smiled coldly.

This Redstone is still trying to struggle to the death?

…

The nominations for the Golden Globe Awards have been announced. New Universal's "Chicago", "All the Time", "New York City" and "The Pianist", four award-winning films, unsurprisingly became the most popular, with a total of 22 nominations. nominate.

On this day, Barry Diller returned the good news: "Kevin Turner said yes!"

Dunn was very excited and wanted to fly to Bentonville immediately.

Barry Diller: "He's in Los Angeles right now!"

…

Down in Beverly Hills Country Club, met again Kevin Turner, also came Barry Diller, and Reed Hastings.

This meeting, Kevin Turner did not have the rejection that he used to be thousands of miles away.

After several months of contact, he felt the sincerity of New Universal.

"Actually, the most important thing that made me want to join New Universal was the latest acquisition," he said.

A few big men were swimming shirtless, not even a beautiful woman accompanying them, and they were nothing like business negotiations in the entertainment industry. Fortunately, Kevin Turner is a technology talent, he thinks it is normal.

"Acquisition?" Dunn's eyes lit up, "You mean the imdb website?"

Kevin Turner said: "Yes, that is the site. Of course I am not interested in this site, but I am shocked by the combination of imdb and Netflix."

"Oh? How do you say it?"

Everyone in the room was interested in his words.

Especially Reed Hastings.

As the founder and head of Netflix, he is eager to hear more "high talk". Dunn's combination of imdb and Netflix has already made his eyes shine.

Kevin Turner said with a smile: "I think in terms of Wal-Mart. When it comes to sales, Wal-Mart has no rivals. The boom in e-commerce, to be honest, will only make Wal-Mart stronger. However, Netflix It made my eyes shine. This is actually an e-commerce, but it is not an e-commerce in the traditional sense. This movie-based membership sales model is commendable.”

"During this period of time, I have been following entertainment news, and through Mr. Diller, I got some first-hand information about New Universal and Viacom. In my opinion, the future of the rental market must belong to Netflix! As for Blockbuster...the traditional record industry is dying, how long can Blockbuster last?"

"I have also watched Netflix. The business model is very advanced, and with imdb's information consultation, the stickiness and attraction to users will be greatly increased. However, there are some minor flaws, such as video-on-demand services, which are useless; video downloads, It will nourish the birth of piracy; the cost of mailing video discs is too high, a single postage is 30 cents, and a round trip is 60 cents, which is a huge expense.”

Dunn was a little speechless.

Unexpectedly, what attracted Kevin Turner to New Universal was not the arrogant film and television business, but Netflix...

But that's fine. He was originally in charge of the "online-offline" docking business at Walmart, and when he came to New Global, he could just be in charge of this.

Reed Hastings shook his head and said: "The most ideal mode of film dissemination, UU Reading naturally pushes the pictures and sounds of movies and TV series directly to the audience in the form of data streams through the Internet. As long as the device that can display it, it can receive and play. However, for now, the network carrier cannot quickly complete the transmission of huge amounts of information in a short period of time.”

The current Internet speed is still in the "narrowband" era.

It takes a full 16 hours to download a movie in DVD quality that is less than 3 hours!

And those 16 hours of internet bills... up to $10.

You know, Netflix's monthly membership fee is only $20.

In this case, Netflix's video-on-demand and video download services naturally seem very tasteless.

It's not Netflix's problem, it's the network operator's problem.

Kevin Turner sternly said: "No! There is a solution!"

"Unless the bottleneck of network bandwidth can be broken."

"That's something operators should consider."

"Oh?" Reed Hastings frowned.

Kevin Turner also knows that after he joins New Universal, he will be the vice president of the group, the chairman and chief executive of the interactive entertainment department, and the immediate boss of Reed Hastings.

At this time, it is necessary to show off a little knowledge and demonstrate your ability to truly "lead".

"I haven't gotten Netflix's specific financial statements, but I know that Netflix's expenses, in addition to the necessary copyright fees, the biggest expense is the shipping of video discs!"

Reed Hastings nodded.

In the past year, Netflix's revenue exceeded $600 million, of which $150 million was spent on shipping, accounting for a full 25%!

This is a huge expense.

However, it is impossible to charge the shipping fee to the monthly membership users, right?

(Sanqi Chinese)