Year: I had a good time when I was young

Chapter 439 Taking advantage of the momentum
When the gold medal hung around Margaret's neck, the girl was most grateful to Chu Qianqian.

In equestrian competitions, the horse is more important than the rider.

Sometimes, no matter how well you cooperate, the horse is not strong enough, and no matter how hard you try, it will be in vain.

And really speaking, both Black Jazz and Black Captain have the ability to win the championship.

But of the two such strong horses, Margaret was able to keep one as a backup.
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In the evening, Chu Xiangqian did not go to the banquet specially held for Margaret. Unexpectedly, this girl hurriedly appeared in the luxurious suite where Chu Xiangqian lived before 9 o'clock, holding her long skirt with both hands.

Anyone who has watched Roman Holiday will know that aristocratic cocktail parties and dinners are actually very boring.

And everyone looked at people with side eyes.

Therefore, no matter how rich Chu Xiangqian was, he knew that these nobles, who looked glamorous but had long since declined, looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts.

Of course, they despised him, and if there was an opportunity to make a fortune, these people would swarm him like bees.

Chu Xiangqian simply stopped contacting these people.

Anyway, with the royal family and Norton, many things are not difficult to solve.

There is a saying that says that for truly useful relationships, only three or five are enough.

Any more would be a burden and trouble.
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Chu Qianqian looked at Margaret, who was dressed in a beautiful dress and looked beautiful.

With a thought in my heart, I secretly thought that I would enjoy it if I let her wear this outfit to work out together at night.

One night passed, and the news about Margaret's victory was widely reported in England, but at this time, this little girl was lying in Chu Qianqian's arms and fell asleep.

Last night was so exciting that losing once didn't count. After washing up, the two of them were chatting, and Margaret refused to accept it and provoked a second friendly match.

By the time the game was over, I was really tired and fell down.

At 11 o'clock at noon, Margaret rubbed her eyes in a daze, and then reached out to touch her side.

Realizing that Chu Qianqian was not behind him, he quickly opened his eyes and scanned the bedroom.

After not seeing Chu Xiangqian's figure, Margaret hurriedly shouted a few words, and then felt relieved when she heard his response from the living room.

When I got up, I casually put on my silk nightgown. When I walked out of the bedroom, I saw my sweetheart sitting on the sofa making a phone call.

He walked barefoot to the sofa and lay directly on the sofa, with his head resting on Chu's forward legs.

After listening to a few words, I suddenly realized that Chu Xiangqian seemed to be chatting with someone about the possibility of acquiring Universal Pictures.

Margaret was instantly interested.

To put it bluntly, the royal family is a plus-size star.

Unfortunately, after Margaret listened for another ten minutes, she saw Chu Xiangqian sighed and hung up the phone, frowned and sat still, looking out the window not knowing what he was thinking.

When Sony acquired Columbia in the 89s and Panasonic acquired Universal in the 90s, while the two island companies were being cheated by Hollywood, they were also ostracized by the entire United States.

In the end, Panasonic suffered a loss of more than one billion and only lasted for 5 years before selling Universal to the Canadian beverage giant Seagram.

Sony was even worse. Although they did not sell Columbia in the end, they were still tricked by Hollywood.

By 05, a consortium was formed to acquire MGM together.

But MGM only supported it for five years before declaring bankruptcy.

Sony has lost at least 50 billion US dollars, which is a complete mistake.

However, Sony lost money on the movie and was cheated, but Sony is not stupid.

With Hollywood's global popularity, it's amazing how much money can be saved on advertising fees.

Chu Xiangqian's headache is simple. It's not that he doesn't have the money to acquire it, but that he's in an era when xenophobia is more serious.

As a Chinese, I went to acquire the top eight companies in Hollywood, and it was not a bad thing to be taken advantage of.

After all, I cheated on myself and knew those movies could make money.

But even if a Hollywood company is willing to sell it, there is a high probability that the US government will not approve it and may even intervene through administrative means.

In the end, we talked about it for three to five years, but in the end it was all in vain. Thinking about it, it feels meaningless.

Moreover, if Hollywood can have such great influence in the future, it is not because of the film companies themselves that have such great ability.

But the media group behind them needs a medium to expand the influence of the media group.

However, the real wave of mergers did not appear until the early 80s.

Before this, the United States was very wary of giants in various industries, and it easily dismantled giants with monopoly positions.

可以说，6、7、8这30年里，是米国蓝领工人最幸福了30年。

It was only in the past 30 years that a blue-collar worker could support his wife and several children.

It’s not that American capital is kind-hearted, but that the United States wants to convey to the world that they are better than red polar bears.

Lest the leeks jump out and start a revolution.

Therefore, for Chu Xiangqian, it does not seem to make sense to completely acquire the eight major Hollywood companies at this time.

On the contrary, once the acquisition is successful, it will become a thorn in the side of the United States.

To put it bluntly, Americans welcome you to invest, but they do not allow you to become a giant in a certain industry.

At this time, the top 8 Hollywood companies are the pyramid of the film industry.

"Dear, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing Margaret's worried words, Chu Xiangqian suddenly felt something in his heart. His identity was not good, but Margaret was most likely fine.

It may still be troublesome to acquire a movie company directly, but there is absolutely no problem in taking a stake.

Or, you can just buy a stake in a certain film company, then write a script and hire a director, or even become the director yourself, and hire two or three experienced and obedient directors to be assistant directors.

There will definitely be no problem filming.

No, in the United States the director is just the tool, and the producer is the boss of the crew.

After confirming the script, the director shoots according to the drawn shots, which is not much different from being the director directly.

And during the filming, I can also keep an eye on the crew, which is no different from being the director myself.

When I am established in Hollywood, I will introduce action movies from Hong Kong to Hollywood.

It will definitely cause greater repercussions than Uncle Xiao Long in his previous life.

Speaking of which, Uncle Xiao Long died too early. The only movies he starred in in Hollywood were Enter the Dragon and the half-finished Game of Death.

The others are all cameos or action directors.

In terms of real influence, Uncle Xiao Long may have a greater influence in the fighting world than he does in movies.

However, Enter the Dragon has a global box office of US$2.3 million, which is a greater achievement than any Chinese actor.

If Uncle Xiao Long hadn't pioneered action movies and popularized kung fu in the United States, the big-nosed Uncle Long and Brother Jie wouldn't have been able to break into Hollywood so easily.

One sentence about the founder of kung fu movies says it all.

Those who come after him will all accept his gratitude.
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Chu looked forward and looked at Margaret, "Are you interested in joining the Hollywood Eight and becoming a shareholder?"

Margaret was stunned, "Dear, didn't you still want to buy Universal Pictures just now?"

Chu shook her head forward and voiced her worries, and Margaret quickly understood.

This kind of xenophobia also exists in England, to a certain extent even more than in Hollywood.

Even after the new century, the English people who were wealthy people in the past cannot accept the reality that they are already broke.Xenophobia is naturally more serious.

Margaret frowned and thought for a while, "In order to film Roman Holiday, is it necessary to invest in a Hollywood film company?

If you have that kind of money and energy, you might as well just open a restaurant in England and be your own boss. "

This is true, but Chu Xiangqian also realized that Hollywood is the future.

If a good movie wants to be promoted to the whole world and leave a name in film history, it can only be done by Hollywood as the country's national power becomes stronger and stronger.

It’s not that there are no good movies in Europe, but how many people in future generations can remember these movies?
"It's very troublesome to explain. I will set up an offshore fund to control an issuing company in London. You will be the executive director and apparent boss of this company.

How about giving you 10% of the shares? "

Margaret curled her lips and muttered, 'You know how to assign me to do things.' But after muttering, she nodded, and then said with a smile, "Maybe all the movies you make in the future will be under my control."

This is really not impossible.

Movies shot on Hong Kong Island must make money from foreigners, and distribution companies in England are responsible for distribution. At least the box office in England will be higher than that of Gebai and others.

Then, with Margaret’s connections, it will be easier to go to Europe for distribution.

From now on, the love affairs of Baifanyu and Lardboy will continue to be handed over to Ge Bai and the others, so as not to affect Margaret's and his own reputation.

Moreover, Lard Boy and Rice Fish have no overseas connections. If they want to distribute the film overseas to earn US dollars and pounds, they can only continue to hand it over to the Chu Film Company.

It means that I can still get 3% from it.
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Chu Xiangqian stayed in Rome for another three days and watched Margaret participate in the dressage competition in the equestrian competition.

After seeing her win the women's event again, it didn't matter that she still had to participate in the team competition.

I went directly to London first and found Coopers & Partners, which was also a shareholder of Standard Chartered.

With the help of professional lawyers and accountants, it only took 2 days to set up an offshore fund and film distribution company.

But the cost is not low. You can buy a luxury car in London for 4 pounds.

Then Yongdao's people flew to Los Angeles with Chu Qianqian's commission.

The first target is a 20% stake in Universal Pictures.

Since being acquired by Decca Records in 52, Universal Pictures has been in bad luck.

Looking at the name of the acquisition company, you can tell that the purpose of Decca Records' acquisition of Universal Pictures is to better distribute records.

Unfortunately, at the same time that the film industry was impacted by the television industry, the recording industry was also equally impacted.

Coupled with the popularity of radio, ordinary people will listen to fewer and fewer records.

If Chu Xiangqian remembers correctly, Decca Records had to sell Universal Pictures to American Music Company in 62.

But the purpose of this company's acquisition of Universal Pictures is also music.

But the advantage over Dica Records is that American Music Company is an industry giant. After developing to a certain extent in the music field, it will naturally want to expand its business.

By the way, I use movies to give feedback to the record business.

But Chu Xiangqian doesn’t mind at all the acquisition of Universal Pictures by American Music Company.

The other party's main business is music, while he only values ​​movies. The two can even complement each other.

Once his achievements in film become greater, Bao Buqi will be able to control Universal Pictures' film department.

Three days later, Margaret's team all returned to London. After attending a grand welcome banquet, news soon came from the United States.

Decca Records is indeed willing to talk, and according to Yongdao people, the other party seems to be quite anxious.

In other words, the company is either eager to get rid of its film division, or it is really short of money.

However, with a valuation of 4 million US dollars, Chu Xiangqian knew that the other party was using him as a scapegoat without even thinking about it.

Instruct Yongdao's people to check the box office and costs of the movies released by Universal in the past two years.

The next day Chu Xiangqian learned that Universal invested US$1200 million in a movie last year, the highest investment in history.

It's a pity that after it was released this year, it only earned more than 1400 million US dollars at the box office.

Needless to say, I ended up at my grandma’s house.

There are many examples in Hollywood where a movie suffers a big loss and faces the danger of bankruptcy, or even direct bankruptcy.

This is also the reason why film companies have very high annual profits in some years, but their market value is not proportional.

There is really too much uncertainty in film production and box office.

The most direct example is Wu Baige's Wind Talker.

Wu Baige first entered Hollywood and made consecutive blockbuster movies such as Face Off and Mission: Impossible 2. But this is a director with such continuous success.

However, he made a film called "Wind Talker" with an investment of 1 million US dollars and a box office of only 7 million.

It almost bankrupted MGM, and it didn't recover for several years.

In the end, after supporting it for several years, it went bankrupt.

Therefore, Hollywood movie companies are actually not valuable. What is really valuable is the media group behind them.

No wonder Decca Records has agreed to take a stake now, as it is looking for a successor.

Later, Evergreen, which is indeed one of the top accounting firms in England, actually inquired about the American Music Company, and has been in contact with Decca Records since March this year.

Even in April, 4% of the shares were acquired from several small shareholders.

Fortunately, Decca Records holds 79% of Universal's shares and has an absolute controlling stake, otherwise life would be even more difficult.

But American music companies are also having a hard time right now.

I came into contact with Decca Records in March. The initial purpose was to acquire Decca Records.

At the same time, I also saved money, betting that the $1200 million movie invested by Universal would get high returns.

After all, this matter was widely spread last year, and many viewers were looking forward to the release of this movie.

It's a pity that the 62 version of Spartacus in the historical and biographical genre is not very good. With an investment of 1200 million, it only had a box office of 1400 million. The loss is doomed.

American music now has to either give up on mergers and acquisitions or grit its teeth and persist.

Although it will be much cheaper to continue mergers and acquisitions at this time.

But it also means taking over more debt.

Once a movie released in the next one or two years still doesn't do well at the box office, it will basically become a mess.

Therefore, Chu Xiangqian guessed that American music will most likely continue to wait and see for another year or two, just like in previous lives.

And this gave Chu Xiangqian a chance.

Small-budget, high-box-office movies don't really come to his mind too much.

Even if Snake and The Drunken Master were released in the United States, the box office might be higher than some of Universal's movies this year.

But Chu Xiangqian definitely disagrees with the valuation of 4 million.

He said to the microphone and the Coopers, "The valuation is 3000 million. As long as the deal is completed and approved by the US government, the payment can be made in cash of 6 million US dollars."

At the same time, I told the people at Decca that the voting rights of the shares I hold will advance and retreat with Decca Records. "

(End of this chapter)