Traveling Through the Tokyo Bubble Era

Chapter 749 Not now
Malibu beach house.

Hideki Hanyu sat on a chair on the balcony, enjoying the sea breeze while looking at the information he got from Michael Ovitz.

Gradually, a smile crept onto his face.

At the same time, a pair of snow-white arms wrapped around his neck from behind.

A sweet girl's voice sounded, "What are you so happy about?"

"Awake so early?"

Hideki Hanyu didn't need to look back to know that the girl behind him was none other than Jennifer Connelly.

I have to say, eighteen-year-old girls are full of energy.

After having some fun in the crew's RV yesterday and moving back to the Malibu mansion to play until midnight, Sherilyn Fenn was still tired and went to sleep, but Jennifer Connelly had already woken up.

Hanyu Hideki put away the documents and replied casually, "Some good news at work."

After meeting with Michael Ovitz yesterday, they finally reached a cooperation agreement.

But the result is a little special.

Hideki Hanyu still plans to ask Peter Peterson to be his middleman.

But also chose to work with Michael Ovitz.

He learned from Michael Ovitz that after seeing the response caused by Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures, Panasonic also began to consider entering the American entertainment industry.

Of course, Hanyu Hideki knew that in another time and space, the consequences of Panasonic's impulsive decision would be very bad.

Not only did it spend $6.5 billion to buy MCA Universal, but it also lost billions of dollars in the following years, which had a severe impact on Panasonic's own financial situation.

In the end, in order to survive, it had to sell MCA Universal again at a price much lower than the purchase price.

But Hideki Hanyu knows it, but the current Panasonic executives don’t.

With the high momentum of the bubble economy, Panasonic met Michael Ovitz, who was planning to find a buyer for MCA Universal, and then they fell in love with each other.

Michael Ovitz saw that he had a chance to become a "promoter" again, and fantasized about tens of millions of dollars in commissions and great fame.

Who would have thought that Hideki Hanyu would reveal his secret and tell him that he was not the only one helping MCA Global find a buyer.

The most crucial thing is that with Hideki Hanyu's financial resources, if he becomes an opponent in this competition, his dream may really be ruined.

So, when Hideki Hanyu finally said.

"I want to join this deal, not destroy it."

Michael Ovitz immediately said that everything could be discussed.

The reason given by Hideki Hanyu was that he wanted to avoid competition with Panasonic in the acquisition of MCA Global, which would have benefited the seller.

If necessary, he can form a joint acquisition with Panasonic based on demand.

As for what he really thought, of course it would be best to keep it all for himself.

But if you can't, you must get what you want.

In fact, this is also a helpless move for Hideki Hanyu.

After all, after learning from Peter Peterson that the MCA Universal board of directors was already interested in cashing out, he guessed that Panasonic might enter the game, and then got confirmation from Michael Ovitz.

In this case, unless Panasonic gives up voluntarily, or he spends real money to compete with Panasonic, he must give up his first target, Universal.

As for the former, given the pride of Neon Capital today, the chance of giving up is too small.

As for the latter, Panasonic has nothing to do with him in Neon, so it will never give him face and will certainly not be afraid of competition in the acquisition. By then, they will fight each other and the acquisition price will probably be more exaggerated and unreasonable than in another time and space.

Of course, Hideki Hanyu would not do such a thing that would waste money.

That's why he planned to try to join the acquisition while Panasonic and MCA were in the early stages of contact.

But this operation must be done skillfully.

The cooperation with Peter Peterson is considered to put external pressure on Panasonic. After all, he doesn't want to waste money, and Panasonic doesn't want to do that either.

Michael Ovitz, on his part, was an "insider" who worked hard to get Hideki Hanyu to cooperate while Hanyu guaranteed his "benefits".

Anyway, for Michael Ovitz, as long as his promoters can succeed and gain fame and fortune, it doesn't matter who acquires MCA Universal.

As for Peter Peterson, this man only seeks profit and doesn't care about the "fame" in Hollywood. After Hideki Hanyu becomes his employer, he will cooperate with him in any way he is asked to do, because the middleman's commission will not be reduced by a penny anyway.

As for whether Hideki Hanyu will succeed in the end and what he will get after success.

Hideki Hanyu can only take things one step at a time.

After all, this is a multi-billion dollar cross-border acquisition. Its complexity and tediousness are beyond imagination, and there are too many uncontrollable risks in the middle. Even if Hideki Hanyu is a time traveler, it is impossible for him to predict everything in advance.

Of course, as a time traveler, some of the general trends he knew could still help him.

For example, after Panasonic bought MCA Global, it soon considered withdrawing because the business did not meet expectations and continued to suffer losses.

The 1990s was a critical period for display panels to enter a technological competition.

Panasonic is betting on plasma display panels. Seeing that its competitors are constantly making breakthroughs, it needs to invest a lot of money in research and development and production technology.

On one side is the unfamiliar film and television entertainment industry, and on the other side is the traditional home appliance industry.

Faced with these two choices, Panasonic simply sold MCA Universal.

This also led Hideki Hanyu to decide that if he could not acquire the company alone, he could lay the foundation through a joint acquisition to make it easier for him to take over from Panasonic in the future.

Although MCA Global was his first target, he also prepared for the worst and had a backup plan.

And this matter requires him to have a good talk with Peter Peterson.

After all, his actions in America are also related to his plans in Japan.

Everything must be done at his pace.

Thinking of this, he sighed inexplicably again.

Ultimately, he was too cautious and liked to calculate the optimal solution for everything.

Otherwise, with his current financial resources, he could also learn from those Japanese capitals and use money to build everything in a seemingly foolish way.

Unfortunately, that's not his style after all.

The capital he had accumulated with great difficulty had many uses.

"What's wrong? You were happy just now, but now you are sighing?" Jennifer Connelly's voice sounded again.

"It's all business matters."

Hideki Hanyu put away the information, which contained information about the contact between Panasonic and MCA Global, so that he could judge the situation at any time.

Following that, he hugged the American girl from behind and felt her figure that did not match her age. He could not help but touch her all over and spoke at the same time.

"I really don't want you to leave."

"Then I'll stay here with you." said Jennifer Connelly.

Hanyu Hideki said, "I agree, but I'm afraid Director Catherine doesn't agree either."

Jennifer Connelly took advantage of her position and pleaded with Hanyu Hideki, "Then please ask the director for another day off for me."

"You know, this is impossible. I was able to ask for leave for you today because I allowed the crew to shoot at my house."

Hideki Hanyu was able to get Jennifer Connelly and Sherilyn Fenn last night and saved them from filming today.

It was because Kathryn Bigelow needed to shoot a scene using the mansion as the background, and the two heroines didn't need to appear, so Hideki Hanyu contributed the Red Maple Manor in exchange for a day of rest for the two of them.

Of course, if Hanyu Hideki used his status to pressure the crew to let the two women rest for a few more days, it would be fine. But given his style, he was destined not to do such a thing for two women.

"Since we only have one day, we must hurry up and go see if Xue'er has woken up."

Hideki Hanyu picked up Jennifer Connelly and walked towards the bedroom where Sherilyn Fenn was resting.

I have spent so much time and energy planning MCA Global's affairs, and it's time to relax.

……

As I was in simultaneous contact with Peter Peterson and Michael Ovitz, and constantly adjusting plans and plotting secretly, time quickly entered June.

June st.

Hideki Hanyu spent Children's Day with his eldest daughter in the morning.

In the afternoon, we took a helicopter to San Jose.

In addition to accompanying Zhou Huimin and his eldest son who were recovering from childbirth, he also planned to deal with some work matters here.

For example, the expansion of Elf Entertainment’s headquarters in America, known as the “Elf Kingdom,” has been completed.

Today's "Elf Kingdom" is really like the Wizard of Oz in the story, with transparent pipes passing through the air, half-buried buildings, and the ground covered with flowers and green plants, making people feel like they are in a fairy tale world.

After the expansion, his office in the branch also moved to a new location.

It was a separate office building built on the newly purchased land.

There are three floors above ground and one floor underground.

In addition to his office, it is also home to his American secretary's office.

Of course, as the "Elf Kingdom" expanded, the number of employees at Elf Entertainment also expanded.

The number of employees in the Americas division soon exceeded the 4,000 mark and is still growing.

But even so, Michael Katz, head of North America, is still complaining about lack of staff and saying that the utilization rate of the new office area in "Elf Kingdom" is too low.

This is not because Michael Katz is "greedy", but rather that Elf Entertainment is gradually dominating the world.

In addition to being responsible for business in North America, the Americas division also has to take into account part of the business in Europe and the development of the entire emerging market in South America.

Therefore, the American branch of Elf Entertainment is really short of people.

You have to know that although four thousand people may seem like a lot, they actually include all departments including administration, games, technology, sales, promotion, etc.

But Elf Entertainment's business is quite extensive. In addition to the three major game platforms, it also includes electronic pets, game development, electronic derivative product development, Elf Show management, etc.

This means that the copyright-related derivative business and the original toy business were handed over to the later established Elf Communication.

Otherwise Michael Katz will only be more short-handed.

However, Hideki Hanyu did not satisfy Michael Katz's complaints indefinitely.

He agreed to continue recruiting, but strictly required Michael Katz to control the number of full-time employees.

After all, he cannot forget the excellent traditions of Silicon Valley companies.

Although large companies such as Apple and Microsoft seem to have a large number of employees, many of them are "dispatched" temporary workers.

The union problem in America is inevitable, and Hideki Hanyu does not want Elf Entertainment to become too big to be eliminated.

Temporary dispatched workers can solve many problems very well.

So being an unscrupulous capitalist in America is something he must learn.

After inspecting Elf Entertainment, Hideki Hanyu did not forget to visit other companies.

For example, the independent Elf Entertainment America R&D Center is working day and night to improve the second-generation PS console to ensure that the strategic plan of Elf Entertainment is not delayed.
For example, "Divine Vision" which Huang is in charge of is still focusing on the gaming market due to the sluggish PC market. He is now waiting for the second-generation PS console to be launched and is also planning to get a big order for Divine Vision.

Finally, there is Cisco, which is run by John Chambers.

After expelling the two founders from the power layer, Cisco began to develop completely according to John Chambers' ideas, focusing on technology, but paying more attention to the acquisition of peers.

As I read along, time passed and it was June 5th in a blink of an eye.

On this day, Hanyu Hideki was at the Moon Lake Manor, hugging Zhou Huimin and kissing her, but he received a message that Dante Kane, the manager of Hope Angel Investment, had come to his house.

Dante Kane did not visit alone this time, but came with Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee.

In the small reception room on the second floor, Hanyu Hideki met the two people.

After the maid brought them the juice, Hideki Hanyu asked Howard Schultz first.

"Why did Howard suddenly leave Seattle and come to San Jose to see me?"

Howard Schultz explained, "I was not in Seattle but was inspecting the branch in New York. When I learned that Manager Dante was coming from New York to meet Mr. Hanyu, I offered to come along."

Hanyu Hideki said, "So that's how it is. You came to see me, so you must have something to ask me."

Howard Schultz admitted, "Yes."

Then he asked, "Mr. Hanyu, do you know how many Starbucks stores there are in America now?"

Hanyu Hideki replied, "If I remember correctly, the last time I looked at the report, it should be seventy-six?"

Howard Schultz said, "That was the number two months ago. Now it's 82."

"Not bad." Hanyu Hideki responded calmly.

After all, when he traveled through time, Starbucks had more than 16,000 stores in America alone, and 30,000 stores worldwide.

Compared with this scale, the current number of branches is less than 100, which makes it difficult for him to have any emotional fluctuations.

However, his nonchalant reaction made Howard Schultz admire him and feel that Hideki Hanyu was worthy of being the second richest man ranked by Forbes.

After all, in Howard Schultz's eyes, the scale of 82 stores is already a number that he is very proud of, but compared with Hideki Hanyu's net worth, it is really not worth mentioning.

With this in mind, Howard Schultz said impatiently, "In fact, this number should be higher."

"What limits Starbucks' growth? Money?"

Hanyu Hideki's guess was accurate. Howard Schultz nodded and said, "That's right. Starbucks's revenue can no longer meet the expansion of stores. We need more money."

"What do you want to do?" asked Hanyu Hideki.

Howard Schultz glanced at Dante Kane next to him and said, "Manager Dante and I think we can consider taking Starbucks public."

"Going public is indeed a good idea." Hanyu Hideki said in approval.

But then he changed his tone and asked, "But have you ever thought about whether Starbucks is really suitable for listing now?"

If Hideki Hanyu remembers correctly, Starbucks in another time and space should have been listed in 1992.

At this moment in time, Howard Schultz is considering pushing Starbucks to go public in advance. The reason is actually very simple.

That is, with the help of Hideki Hanyu, Starbucks' expansion speed is faster than in another time and space.

Starbucks now has 82 stores in America.

But in another time and space, in 1993, after Starbucks went public, the number of stores had just reached .

It was precisely because Starbucks' development speed far exceeded its original historical level that it encountered financial problems earlier.

Howard Schultz heard this and asked tentatively, "Mr. Hanyu, don't you think Starbucks should go public?"

Hanyu Hideki's answer was, "Starbucks should go public, but I don't think it's time to go public now."

(End of this chapter)