Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald San, welcome to Tokyo..."

Norio Ohga personally welcomed Ronald's visit at the door of the CEO's office at Sony's headquarters.

"Da He Sang, please don't be too polite between us. Is there anything I can do for you?" Ronald bowed slightly, then walked into the office and sat on the luxurious sofa.

"Did Ronald-san come alone? Do you want me to make arrangements?" Dahe began to take a roundabout way and personally brought a cup of black tea and placed it in front of Ronald.

"Ah? I came alone. Helen has to go to the Great Wall to shoot. Diane is resting at home. Arrangements are too much. I just came to attend Dahe Sang's appointment. You are my best Japanese friend." Ronald didn't know what Da He was thinking. Why was this Sony CEO with a Western mindset so hesitant today?

"Oga-san, we are old friends. If you have anything to say, you can tell me directly. As long as it is within my ability, I am obligated." Seeing that Oga-san still seemed unable to speak, Ronald had no choice but to express his stance.

"Hey, I can't say anything about this, but I still have to ask Ronald-san...please think about how I can compensate you..." Norio Ohga said, bowed slightly to Ronald, and then spoke his mind.

It turned out that he really wasn't asking Ronald to do something, but he was asking Ronald not to do something.

Speaking of Sony's acquisition of Columbia Records and Columbia Pictures' two ground-breaking acquisitions, the ones who were most shocked were not a group of entrepreneurs in America, but those in Japan.

Especially the bosses of the companies that were established before the war. Those people still resented the rice beasts, and had mixed emotions of gratitude and awe. Their mentality was completely different from that of Sony Corporation, which was only established after the war.

Sony, which has been adhering to internationalization from the beginning, acquired Columbia Pictures. At most, it was the joy of commercial success. However, for those old companies that were bombed in the late war and then recovered through orders from the US military after the war, Said that this simply touched the most sensitive part of their hearts.

Being able to be the boss of an American film and television and record company, and then arrogantly direct white people to do things, is... something that is unimaginable. It was actually accomplished by an alternative in a Japanese company like Sony.

Therefore, in the New Year of 1990, various Japanese companies began to get ready to take action, thinking, "I think I can also acquire one." In the consumer electronics manufacturing industry, two positive responders immediately emerged.

One is Pioneer, a company that once had a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records. This company started by manufacturing speakers, and later focused on manufacturing LD, karaoke and CD players. The joint venture was canceled by Warner Brothers, and it will be limited to the Japanese music market in the future.

After taking a sum of money, they wanted to find a medium-sized company in Hollywood to re-enter the American market. They began looking for suitable agents, hunting for prey in Hollywood.

The other company is one of Sony's biggest competitors, Panasonic.

The consumer electronics manufacturing company founded by Konosuke Matsushita, the so-called management god, is not comparable to a company like Pioneer. What they are aiming at is Sony, which wants to annex America's record and film and television production and distribution companies and create a media group to compete with Sony.

Norio Ohga wanted Ronald to promise that he would not be able to help them in the Panasonic acquisition case like he helped Sony.

"But Norio Ohga, America is a country of free competition. If I don't help, won't Panasonic be able to find people?" Ronald felt that Norio Ohga had some ideas behind his back.

"Ahem, you are right, I am a little selfish. Even if they succeed, I don't want them to win the beauty."

As Ronald said, if a company of Panasonic's size wants to acquire studios and record companies, it will not be able to find the right people to operate it. However, it is not easy for someone like Ronald to establish a relationship with the current leader, then pass the review of Congress and committees without any danger, and successfully complete the acquisition at a relatively reasonable price.

Konosuke Matsushita passed away just last year, and his son-in-law Masaharu Matsushita has just taken over the power of the company. If such a person is allowed to handle a beautiful acquisition case, then Norio Ohga will be under great pressure.

After all, above Norio Ohga, there is also Akio Morita's office exerting some influence. Although theoretically speaking, Dahe, who was the first to take advantage of the situation, would find it more difficult to execute an acquisition than the later imitators, but if Panasonic's acquisition price is better than his, then he would have done it under Sony's complicated power structure. Life is even more difficult than that of Matsushita Masaharu who keeps his word.

"Ah, this..." Ronald thought to himself, I didn't want to transform into a broker. However, he also thought that some thoughtful people in the industry and political circles might already know about his help with Sony's public relations.

If Panasonic really makes up its mind to acquire and enter the market, it should not be difficult to find him. However, there is absolutely no need for me to help Panasonic. I have never dealt with it. How can they still pay 100 million to treat me?

"I'm not a professional broker. If I helped Da He Sang, it was out of loyalty as a friend..." Ronald just said a few nice words, and it didn't cost money anyway.

"Ronald-san is indeed a first-class American friend!" Norio Ohga was waiting for this sentence, "Hahaha, if anything happens in the future, don't forget that you still have a close friend in Sony."

"Speaking of which, I have one thing. I wonder if it's convenient for Ohga-san to help?" Ronald thought that the atmosphere had reached this point, so he took out the matter of Cameron's Spider-Man script being rejected and asked Can Dahe intervene?

"Hey, I can promise you everything else, but when it comes to Columbia Pictures' Gubersan, I..." Dahe's face turned cloudy. This thing is really uncomfortable.

Warner Bros. originally signed a five-year distribution contract with Guber and Peters' film company. In order to lure them over, Morita Akio even bought out their production company.

However, Warner Bros. sued Sony-Columbia Pictures, demanding $1 billion in damages, on the pretext that Guber and Peters had not fulfilled the terms of the contract. Sony immediately countersued, but the legal team told Norio Ohga that there was little hope of winning the lawsuit.

In order not to have just acquired Columbia Pictures, it suffered a shameful failure, which also affected the image of the company's representative figure, retired former CEO Akio Morita. Dahe reluctantly let the lawyer lead the settlement.

The price of the settlement was very high. Sony not only packaged the basic cable broadcast rights of Columbia Pictures, including movies and TV series, to Warner Bros., but also allocated a lucrative mail-order record club from another subsidiary of CBS Records. 50% of the shares.

In addition, Columbia Pictures will also pay for a 35% stake in its Burbank studio and the rights to 50 Guber-Peters film projects currently in development, including the rights to the sequel to "Batman"... …This comic-book adaptation is a box-office winner, having grossed US$450 million at the global box office…

After paying so much, Columbia got only Culver City, which Warner now owns, and many former MGM filming locations.

Some Wall Street analysts estimate that these asset projects may cost Columbia $300-600 million in long-term revenue (a large part of which is the rights to film Batman sequels).

If this is true, it will be Sony's laughing stock. Norio Ohga had no choice but to pretend to be fat and let the vice chairman of Columbia Records, Michael P. Schulhoff, speak out. Schulhoff was the one who first recommended Columbia Pictures to Norio Ohga. He replaced Guber, who was inconvenient to speak, to explain that this was a win-win result. Analysts’ valuation of Sony’s assets to reach a settlement is completely inaccurate…

And everyone benefits from this transaction, which is a win-win result. Columbia Pictures no longer has to compete with Warner Bros. for the Burbank studio in the joint venture, but now has its own fully owned studio in Culver City...

The advisory office system established by former chairman Akio Morita is disgusting. Making a decision does not require responsibility for the outcome of the decision. What Gubel does well is that he knows people with a keen eye. If you don’t do a good job, then I’m just giving general suggestions. It’s not up to you to decide on the specific matters?

On the one hand, there was the interference of Akio Morita, and on the other hand, during the acquisition, Dahe made a promise to the review committee not to interfere with the operations of professional managers. It was still inconvenient for him to directly intervene to help Ronald.

Maybe he just told everyone that he couldn't repay Ronald. Dahe felt that he had lost face in front of his friends, so he immediately compensated him.

First, he promised Ronald's TV station to use the lowest price to obtain the TV broadcast rights of old movies owned by Columbia Pictures for ten years.

He then promised to compensate Jim Cameron, Ronald's old friend, for losing face. For this sequel to "Terminator", Sony can sign a global distribution contract with the most favorable terms.

Of course, in order to save the face of Akio Morita and Guber, this distribution contract was placed with TriStar Pictures under the management of Ronald's old friend, Frank Price, rather than directly placed with Columbia Pictures.

Then, Ronald also got a promise from Sony that he would get priority distribution rights for the next three movies. As long as he is willing, Sony's Samsung or Columbia will unconditionally distribute his movies, but on the other hand, if Ronald has a better partner, Sony will not have priority.

Finally, Ronald also received a high-rise property in Tokyo worth nearly 100 million yen transferred to him by Dahe personally. It is relatively close to the US military base and the price is no lower than that in popular areas in Tokyo. It is a full-service apartment. . According to Dahe, coming to Tokyo from now on will be like going home, without having to stay in a hotel.

"By the way, are you interested in setting up a joint venture in Shanghai?" Ronald exchanged a promise for a lot of benefits, and then he thought of sharing the inside information he had just obtained.

"They want absolute control, but there are still many conditions..." Of course, Sony has long coveted the market of one billion people, but the conditions are so harsh that they cannot enter.

"I tell you, they will announce a new national development zone next month at the most..."

Norio Ohga immediately paid attention and pressed the button to call the secretary to record the processing. Then he took out two things from the drawer:

"Well, I still have two tickets for the heavyweight boxing match in the VIP area. The most powerful boxing champion in America is competing in Tokyo. Do you want me to find an actress to accompany you to watch?"

Norio Ohga took out two tickets for the popular boxing match to be held in Tokyo Dome and put them in Ronald's hands with a smile. He was originally prepared to entertain Ronald and his girlfriend.

"Hey, I'm not a boxing fan..." Ronald was not used to the straightforward arrangement of Japan.

"Go ahead, there are many celebrities from America watching the game..."

...

The next day, at the Tokyo Dome Stadium, 42,000 people filled the venue, and many Japanese performing stars also came to watch the WBC, WBA, IBF triple champion Michael Tyson's defense.

"Hey, do you know who I am? Look at me, do I look like Tyson? We are of the same ethnicity, African Americans, why don't you let me pass?"

When entering the venue, a thin black man was arguing with a security guard at the entrance.

"Scan, you're using a ticket from the back row, you can't enter from here..." The security guard explained to the black man with a smile in Japanese accented English. The Japanese service staff were very qualified and spoke with a smile, but they just wouldn't let him in with the cheap ticket.

"Spike? Is that you? Why are you here?" Ronald looked closely and found that it was Spike Lee, a black director and alumnus of NYU.

"Hey, An, why are you here?" Spike Lee jumped up happily and high-fived Ronald, "Are you here to watch Tyson's game too? I tell you, it's great, it only took him ninety seconds to beat his opponent last time!"

"He's with me..." Ronald took out two tickets and gestured to the security guard. In the end, he still didn't accept the kindness of arranging the female star. This game must be broadcast live on HBO. If the director of the broadcast recognized him and gave him a close-up, it would be unnecessary trouble.

"Sir, please come here..."

"Watt? Why can he go in? You Japanese also have racial discrimination..." Spike Lee saw that Ronald could go in, and immediately shouted loudly in dissatisfaction.

But most people here don't know English, and don't know what he said, just think he is a clown making a fool of himself.

"What a mess, I have a VIP ticket for the front row." Ronald was so angry that he pulled away the embarrassing Spike Lee.

"Why did you come here to watch the boxing?" Ronald asked the depressed Spike.

"I just have this idea, to speak for black people. You see, this boxing match has Tyson on one side and Douglas on the other side, but most of the people watching the show in the front row are white people like you. I just want to let the black children watching TV in front of the TV understand that black people can also sit in the front row to watch the game, and they don't have to go up to fight..."

"Hey, your dream has come true, Spike..." Ronald's ticket is the best seat, and he will definitely appear in the HBO live broadcast.

"Hey, Bobby..." Spike and Ronald arrived at the front row and saw a black man sitting there, wearing a bright red suit, wearing sunglasses and unable to see his face, and his dressing style is like a singer.

"Hey, Spike..." The man knew Spike Lee, and exchanged punches with him, then whispered in his ear, "You bought scalper tickets, hahaha..."

"What the hell, this is my friend, look who he is? The youngest and most promising director in Hollywood, Ronald Lee. He is my college classmate and also my cousin, you see, we both have the last name Lee..."

"Come on, Ronald, I know you. Sit down..." The singer was the black musician Bobby Brown, who came up and talked to Ronald in a familiar way, "Did you buy any? Um... um? I advise you to buy some for fun, Douglas's odds are 42:1..."

"Oh? I don't know boxing, so I didn't buy..." Ronald also found a seat and sat down.

"Buy one ticket, you can place a bet by phone, it's very convenient, hey, hey, come here, I want to place a bet."

"Ronald..." Spike Lee wanted to come over to stop him.

"Don't move..." Bobby Brown hugged Spike in the middle, he just wanted to see a white man like Ronald make a fool of himself.

"Hello, Mr. Li, do you need to place a bet?" The broker held a mobile phone. Japanese gambling has strict regulations, and you cannot place bets on boxing matches on the spot. Therefore, the Mirage Hotel, which organized the betting for this match, had many brokers come to the front field to facilitate the gamblers of these boxing matches.

"I..." Ronald was about to say that he would not bet on things he did not understand.

"You are not afraid, are you? Hahaha... Do you want to bet on Michael? He knocked down the challenger in 90 seconds last time, and I don't think it will take 90 seconds this time..." Bobby Brown began to laugh at Ronald, "White good boy, which one to buy? Douglas with a 42-to-1 odds, or Tyson who has won every battle but has no profit from the odds?"

"Bobby..." Spike Lee pulled Brown, who was afraid that he did not know Ronald's power in Hollywood.

"Don't be afraid, I think he will still choose Tyson, a good boy, he dare not take risks. Let me tell you, Tyson and I called 12 Japanese girls last night... but Tyson still knocked him down..."

"Hmm?" Ronald turned around and said to the broker after hearing this exaggerated number, "1 to 42, right? I'll buy it..." He took out his checkbook and wrote a check for two thousand dollars, asking him to place the bet.

"Oh hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. You actually placed the bet. Hahaha, Spike, your friend is really brave..."

"I like this ratio..." Ronald said with a smile.

"Hey, don't blame me if you lose..." Bobby Brown smiled and gestured a few hooks, "Your tuition is worth it. Tyson will teach you what his signature uppercut is..."

"Dangdangdangdang..."

The game then started. Unlike what Ronald and Bobby Brown thought, Tyson did not knock Douglas down in the first round, and Douglas did not successfully counterattack.

Tyson's signature combination punches and peek-a-boo close-range fighting style did not play out, and the game seemed very dull.

Until the eighth round...

Tyson hit Douglas with a solid uppercut.

Douglas fell to the ground and the referee began to count, "One... two... three..."

Douglas stood up straight after counting to nine.

"Huh..." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief. Losing the bet was a small matter, but being laughed at by someone like Bobby Brown was uncomfortable.

"You counted overtime, idiot..." Bobby Brown didn't want to give up this opportunity and shouted loudly. In his opinion, Douglas should be knocked down with this punch.

Tyson's agent Don King was also protesting to the referee, but the referee insisted on the original decision and signaled the game to continue.

"Dangdangdangdang..."

The bell rang in the tenth round. Douglas had recovered from the previous knockdown, while Tyson seemed to have really indulged himself too much. His steps were weak and his movements had no speed and strength.

At the 35th second, Douglas started to work left and right and hit Tyson with a flat hook. Tyson lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

This time the referee didn't delay and immediately went over to count "one... two... three..."

Tyson fell to the floor next to Ronald. His eyes were dull and he tried desperately to stand up. Then he fumbled on the floor with his left and right hands and finally got a denture. He tried to put it in his mouth tremblingly, but he was already in a daze and his vision was not focused.

After finally stuffing the denture into his mouth, he slowly stood up and staggered twice.

The referee over there had already started waving his hands, indicating that the game was over.

"Ah..." Ronald stood up like Spike Lee. He didn't expect that Douglas would actually knock Tyson down and end the game.

"Ah..." Bobby Brown couldn't accept it. He started to shout again, "You counted too fast. It's only nine..."

Ronald ignored him and just pulled Spike Lee, "Come on, take the prize money, I'll take you to eat the best sushi in Tokyo..."