American Peanuts

Chapter 14: Is this just a joke?
About 50 minutes later, Charlie walked into the office with clear windows. About twenty people were sitting in front of the rectangular conference table.

Charlie walked towards the empty seat at the front without looking sideways.

Sol followed and closed the door, cleared his throat, and said with great energy: "Everyone, Mr. Charlie Rossi is here."

However, no one seemed to buy it, there was no applause, only secret glances of concern.

Only the man on the right side of the vacant seat stood up. He was an absolutely huge man.Standing 6-and-a-half feet tall and weighing more than 250 pounds, he stood like a wall in a conference room wearing a custom-made black suit.

He has a dark complexion like black coal, no hair, and a high bulge on the exposed back of his head.He was incompatible with the light-skinned people around him.According to the stereotype, he should not appear in such an important position, but should stand at the gate, or act as Charlie's personal bodyguard.

In fact, this man of West African descent named William Taibili graduated from Duke University's Environmental and Public Policy major, which is one of the top economics and management majors in the United States. Alumni include the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon, Cisco, and Morgan. CEO of many business giants including Stanley, Northwest Airlines, Kraft, and General Motors.

In Charlie's view, William is a man who is bold and embroidered, but also has fine details.If it weren't for Charlie to help William finish his education, the big guy would probably end up on the streets and become a gang member.

In return, William entered Charlie's "Mercury" finance after graduation and worked for Charlie.He was the first person to know that Charlie wanted to buy the company.

After Charlie sat down, he slowly sat down and then started to introduce him.

"Sitting across from me is the original executive vice president of the company, Richard Rosenzweig, who managed the magazine and related businesses."

"Charlie Rossi, welcome." Richard, who looked like he was 60 years old, reached out his hand actively. He wore a pair of thick gold-rimmed glasses, and the hair on the top of his head was unusually sparse. You could easily see the top of his forehead. .

"Hello, Mr. Rosenzweig, I have read your introduction. The company's employee No. 23 has worked in the company for more than 40 years. You have witnessed the rise and glory of the magazine." Charlie said.

"Yes, at that time, the company only had a few offices. Every night everyone would get together to discuss, maybe the theme of next month, maybe it was to pick the most beautiful one from a bunch of women's photos in the calendar company, maybe it was just Just drinking and chatting, it was such a wonderful time, everything seems like yesterday.”

"Young people, you know who was there at that time? Arthur Paul, the first art director, who designed the bunny head logo. Photo editor Vince Stajiry, who had an Asian face. And Subscriptions director Charlene Kararos, who was the first "amateur" Playmate girl, and Ray Luchelle, a science fiction writer who was not popular, but Hugh Hefner took a liking to him at a glance and let him Be an associate editor.”

"And the most important thing is Hugh Hefner. He is a true genius who can see the changing trends of this society and lead the trend. He can work more than twelve hours a day and single-handedly create the world with scissors and glue. The first issue. The reviews, the party jokes, the comedy were all originally collected by him alone. He was the one who invented the insert, and he was the one who took the company off its feet."

"But what about you? A loan officer from rural Utah? A devout Mormon? Daydreaming about ten wives every day? What can you do? Sir, I don't know. In my eyes, you're just a A three-year-old kid who didn't understand anything accidentally saw a magazine and dreamed of living a life like Hefner. Yes, you were lucky enough to seize the opportunity and own a company with [-] employees. But you can't do anything except arithmetic. You don't understand art, let alone life and fashion."

"Originally I still had a glimmer of hope in you, but what you did in Nashville exposed your true colors. Leaving the company to date a woman? Beating a reporter? Do you know that our company has been blacklisted by the National Association of Journalists? ?”

"So, this is the first and last meeting between us. You don't need to pretend to come here to work, just leave it all behind, go home and lie in the mansion with the Playmate girl who is on the cover this month Play all night long. In return, you get a large annual dividend and the nominal loyalty of everyone here."

"In addition, take this big Mr. William and this..." He looked at the lawyer standing not far away.

"My name is Saul."

"Yes, there is also Lawyer Saul. I'm sorry that my memory is not very good. Take them both and leave together. There is no need for any takeover here. What other questions do you have now?" Rosenzweig clasped his hands and looked at Looking at Charlie.

Is this what you mean by "the takeover process is normal"?
Charlie looked at Thor.

The middle-aged lawyer rubbed his hands together in embarrassment, thought for a long time, and muttered:
"At least, we are sitting together in a meeting to discuss this matter."

"Good job." Charlie looked at everyone, "Who else thinks I should quit company management? Raise your hand."

The first question is to figure out who is on the side of the company veteran.

Rosenzweig was the first to raise his hand, followed by nine people in total, including the magazine's executive editor, art director, photography director, printing director, sales director, and advertising business director.

The rest include the financial director, the head of the administrative department, the media director, the personnel director, the director of business activities, the network director, and the former head of the legal department.

This coincides with the introduction of William, the black man. As the executive vice president, Rosenzweig has absolute control over the company's core business.Considering that magazines account for more than [-]% of the company's profits, he is a figure who cannot be avoided when he takes over the company.

"Thank you. You can put your hands down. I know you don't have a good impression of me. You think I am like a homeless man. One day I was walking on the street and suddenly picked up a badge with a rabbit head printed on it. sign.”

"To be honest, I don't want to work with a bunch of old fogies who live in the last century, but I have to come because I am needed here. Let me guess, the actual number of subscribers of the magazine now should not exceed 200 million." Charlie Look at the CFO instead of Rosenzweig.

The chief financial officer has various operating data of the company, and he is not in the same boat as Rosenzweig.

Sure enough, the chief financial officer nodded.

"Mr. Charlie, you are right." This is a brown-haired woman who looks to be around 50 years old.

"Tell me the exact number."

"120 million, this is the figure for the last fiscal year, and it may be lower now."

"What about the year before?"

"210 million. Since the turn of the millennium, about [-]% of subscriptions have been lost every year, and the rate of customer loss has accelerated in the past two years." The financial director said matter-of-factly.

"According to your prediction, how long will it take for our subscribers to disappear completely?" Charlie suddenly took out his mobile phone and started playing with it.

"A conservative estimate is that it will be in 2011. If we are not conservative, the magazine business will not last two years." The financial director lowered his eyebrows and said his prediction.

"It's nonsense. We have a large number of fans in the South. They are loyal readers of the magazine. Some people have subscribed for more than 30 years, and they have become grandfathers from young boys. These people have formed a habit, just like every time If you don't breathe, you have to take the magazine to your grave even if you die." Rosenzweig immediately retorted.

"Really? Then look at this." Charlie showed his mobile phone in front of everyone...

(End of this chapter)