Hollywood Hunter

"3000. I think this is the best number of Blockbuster chains in the United States. It is very unwise to blindly pursue market share. This will only make us waste money and energy in commercial areas with low returns. By continuously optimizing the configuration of the planned 3000 video tape chain stores, I hope that Blockbuster can achieve 50% of the local market share in the next three years."

The U.S. video tape industry has developed rapidly in recent years and is expected to exceed $10 billion in sales this year, equivalent to twice the domestic box office.

If Blockbuster can achieve a 50% market share, it will be an industry giant with an annual revenue of 5 billion U.S. dollars and a profit scale of about 500 million U.S. dollars, and its single-unit market value can easily exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars.

Inside Daenerys Studios' No. 3 office LOFT.

Simon heard Nancy say this, and said: "If your goal is really achieved, maybe I should buy out the remaining shares of Blockbuster now."

"I have calculated it," Nancy said with slender fingers on the desktop, "Blockbuster's recent market value is around 3.2 billion US dollars. As the war in the Gulf continues, it may fall to Within US$3 billion. In the case of a wholly-owned acquisition, the quotation can be controlled between US$4.5 billion and US$5 billion, and the actual cash we need to pay is about US$3 billion."

Simon looked at Nancy's beautiful and delicate hand, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and said, "You know, I'm currently preparing a big acquisition plan."

Nancy felt Simon's gaze, and gave him a blank look. Seeing that the man didn't mean any guilty conscience, she didn't look away, so she picked up the coffee cup next to her and took a sip and said, "Two things There is no conflict. Even if your own funds are insufficient, wouldn't it be easy to borrow billions of dollars from the bank?"

The debt crisis that broke out at the end of last year caused major banks in North America to tighten credit, and many companies had a greater difficulty in obtaining loans. However, a quality borrower like Simon has become the most enthusiastic lending target of major banks.

Even if Simon wants to raise 10 billion US dollars now, it will not be too difficult.

"That's right," Simon said, "It's just that besides Universal, I'm still considering other things. It is also a very expensive plan, and the rate of return is higher than that of Blockbuster. So, this matter It can only be back."

When it comes to the acquisition of billions of dollars in funds, Nancy didn't expect Simon to agree to it all at once. Hearing that Simon had other plans, she curiously asked, "What?"

Simon shook his head: "I can't tell you."

Nancy dissatisfied: "Boss, don't you think I am trustworthy?"

"Of course it's worth it," Simon affirmed: "However, trust is actually something that needs to be maintained. The most important point is that if it is not necessary, don't easily give others reasons that might undermine such trust."

If Nancy realized something, "Well, I won't ask."

"So, talk about overseas," Simon continued: "I found that Blockbuster's overseas expansion seems to be a bit slow. The video tape chain store is different from the movie theater line. There are few government controls and trade barriers in overseas markets. Since it plans to expand , Overseas expansion should also be a very important one."

Compared with Blockbuster's domestic chain of over 2,000 stores this year in the United States, overseas, at this time, only small-scale layouts in the surrounding countries of the United States and the five European countries of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and West have been completed. Moreover, in addition to the pace of development in Canada and North America, the total number of chain stores in other markets is less than 200, and they are mainly concentrated in core cities such as London, Paris and Berlin.

"Those overseas chain stores are only for exploring the market for the time being. Early market research and data analysis are very important. To complete these, as long as the funds are sufficient, the overseas expansion speed will not be worse than North America. In addition, I recently plan to put Blockbuster in All the chain stores in the Boston-Washington metropolitan area on the east coast are connected to the Internet, and Blockbuster’s membership system has to be re-planned. In short, there are many things to do, and the overseas market cannot allocate too much energy for the time being."

"It's good if you know it in your heart," Simon nodded, and exhorted: "Also, don't take everything to yourself, let go of what should be left to Wayne Huizanga and James Frey. "

Although it is a very important holding company under Daenerys Entertainment, because of the existence of Nancy Brill, Wayne Huizanga and others, Simon is very relieved of this company, except for some important financial And personnel changes, he now basically does not ask about the specific operations of Blockbuster.

"I understand."

Nancy said, thinking of something, and beckoned to her assistant who was waiting nearby, gave a few words, turned to explain to Simon: "Speaking of Blockbuster's membership system, you can help see if there is anything that needs improvement. There is also the "Dune" video game, which has already begun internal testing, and I happen to give you a copy."

Seeing that the small woman was going to blatantly squeeze the boss again, Simon said: "I am hundreds of thousands a minute, so don't bother me with this kind of thing, right?"

The layout of real-time strategy games is an important category from the stand-alone game era in the 1990s to the online game era in the new century. Many years later, phenomenal popular online games such as World of Warcraft and League of Legends are all related to real-time Strategy games are inextricably linked.

Therefore, Simon has been following up the production of "Dune", after all, it has a lot to do with the future layout.

He is not interested in discussing Blockbuster's membership system.

With so many people in Blockbuster, it is impossible to raise them for nothing.

Nancy did not understand the hundreds of thousands of stalks in one minute, and said: "Just let you see if there are any good ideas. Of course, we still do it by ourselves. I find that you can always create novelties that break through the limits of ordinary people's thinking. Conceived, this talent is simply jealous."

"Is this a compliment? But why didn't I feel it myself?"

Nancy said: "DC Cinema Universe is just such a plan. Do you know how amazing it is? As long as the two films next year can be successful, this plan may be added to the case textbook by Harvard Business School."

Simon smiled and said, "Well, it seems that I am really good."

Nancy gave Simon another white look.

The assistant quickly sent a folder and a copy of the "Dune" floppy disk.

Simon put the game floppy disk aside, opened the file, and Nancy on the opposite side said: "We temporarily intend to divide the membership into junior members and senior members, mainly to provide member discounts, extend the video tape return period, and reduce the penalty. In terms of similar terms, there are some ideas for monthly or yearly subscription."

Asking Nancy's assistant to help him get another bottle of water, Simon lowered his head and began to look at the membership plan in front of him.

Nancy didn’t waste any time. She flipped through another piece of information and noticed that her assistant had sent a bottle of mineral water over. She also casually found a topic and said, “I saw you only drinking water several times, why not? Have coffee?"

Simon didn't look up and said, "Jenny and I are going to have a baby. Coffee is not good."

Nancy wondered: "Does coffee affect children?"

"It has a serious impact, so you need to pay attention to it in the future."

"I didn't plan to get married."

"Not getting married does not mean you can't have children."

"It's very troublesome to have children. I plan to adopt one if needed."

"It's better to have a child by yourself."

Nancy thought of something, dissatisfied: "Macho."

Simon wondered: "Is there a causal relationship between these two things?"

"Have!"

"Well, I am a machismo."

The two of them calmed down. After a while, Simon said, "These programs look good to me. What are the specific effects? I think Blockbuster can choose one or two state chain stores like the overseas pilot you just mentioned. Try first, and if feasible, promote the whole country, cancel if it is not feasible, and it will not affect the overall situation. In fact, the advantage of a large enough enterprise lies in this, and the fault tolerance rate is very strong, not just the membership system, as long as there are any good ideas, You can choose some areas to try."

Nancy turned her head for a moment, then picked up her memo directly and remembered it.

Simon smiled and said, "Don't be so solemn, don't you remember?"

"I thought of the first half of what you said, but didn't think of the second half," Nancy said, quickly writing a few words and then looking up: "Anything else?"

"About value-added services for members," Simon said: "Have you ever rented a videotape in a Blockbuster chain store in person?"

Nancy said, "Of course, every week."

"Do you find it troublesome?"

"trouble?"

"Don't you think about it, you can deliver it to your door?"

Nancy thought for a moment, and said: "The cost is too high, choosing film sources, remote booking, and logistics are all big problems."

“In the short term, you can use the telephone to make reservations. As for logistics issues, try to cooperate with the postal system. The federal postal system is very developed. They shouldn’t mind having an extra door. They sign a contract with the local postal system for an annual order. After packaging the contract, Blockbuster will be able to get rid of the shackles of chain stores. A city only needs a few large warehouse logistics centers.

With an expression of surprise on Nancy's small face, she said, "This is simply a kind of subversion. If we really do it, our existing chain store system will collapse."

Simon shrugged and said: "I can remember that others should have similar thoughts. Blockbuster itself subverts itself or is subverted by others. Which one do you choose?"

Nancy frowned and continued to consider it for a moment, and said: "Such a service involves too many complicated links, and it needs to be developed to a sufficient scale to form a scale effect. It is impossible for a smaller videotape chain company to carry out such a business. We ourselves, it seems unnecessary to do this. Blockbuster’s chain store distribution is carefully selected and is still being optimized to maximize the convenience of users. They often can enter the store to select video tapes on their way off work. No need for remote mailing. By the way, you just said that in the short term, do you have long-term ideas?"

Simon felt the negation in Nancy's tone, not surprising.

It is really not easy to implement a business model similar to Netflix in this era when only phone reservations are available. Moreover, even in the Internet age, Blockbuster will instinctively resist this in order to maintain its own chain store system. Business model.

"In the long run, if Internet users develop to a sufficient scale, Blockbuster can establish its own online website, and users can search for pre-ordered video tapes on their own through the website, just like the library e-book retrieval system. The problem of remote booking is more secure and more convenient. The video tape is obtained through the postal system. After the user finishes watching it, they only need to stuff the video tape into a special Blockbuster package and mail it back without leaving the house."

"If I remember correctly, the number of AOL users should be able to reach 150,000 this month. How many years do you think it will take to reach a sufficient user scale?"

"It took only ten years for the proportion of American households owning video recorders to grow from 2% to 70%. I believe that it will take only ten years at most for the Internet to reach such a degree of popularity."

"The idea of ​​developing business through the Internet is very good, but even if your prediction can come true, it will take at least another five years. A 2% home video recorder penetration rate can't develop a Blockbuster." Nancy said Suddenly turned the front of the conversation, staring at Simon without blinking and asked: "Boss, I'm very curious, how did your advanced ideas come about?"

It's not the first time Simon has encountered this kind of problem. Janet used to stare at her small eyes that is lethal, so she calmly said: "This idea just now was told by a guy named Reed."

"Reid?"

"Yeah," Simon nodded, and raised his chin to the empty seat next to Nancy on the opposite side, in a faint and weird tone: "He is sitting next to you."

Nancy turned to look at the air next to her, and said in an unpleasant tone: "Hey, Reid, can you sit across the street? I hate men."

The small woman seriously cooperated with Simon to make a cold joke. Neither of them laughed, but made Jennifer Rebald and Shirley Lansing who happened to be walking along together confused and even had a furry feeling.

What's the situation?

Seeing Jennifer and Lansing, Nancy stuck her tongue out and greeted the two women and explained: "It's just a joke." She stood up, pointed to the "Dune" game floppy disk beside Simon, and said, "I will Go busy, this, remember to send me an email after the trial."

When Nancy left, Jennifer said to Simon who stood up: "Ms. Lansing has been waiting for you for a while, so I will bring her here."

Simon looked at his watch.

Scheduled to meet Shirley Lansing at 2:30 in the afternoon to discuss the collaboration between Daenerys and MGM. The meeting time at Marvel just ended was a bit early, and there was no rush to return to the administrative district. I didn't expect to chat with Nancy, and it was three o'clock unknowingly.

Saying sorry, just sit down here, Simon asked Lansing: "Have you read the script of "A Few Good People"?"

These days, Johnston Holdings in Australia has begun to take over the seventh television network under the name of Qintex Group, and the cooperation between Daenerys Entertainment and MGM has been advancing.

In Simon’s view, the most critical issue facing MGM is not to be sold as it did in the 1980s. As long as a stable development environment is provided, under the background of Hollywood’s global expansion in the 1990s, Recovery is not difficult.

No matter how hard it is, and after a few years of patient operation, Australia will be able to resell this company at a very good price.

As for the two films planned for cooperation, Simon was not satisfied with several projects proposed by MGM. In the end, he simply took out a newly-purchased copyright from Daenerys, "A Few Good People".