Hollywood Hunter

As night fell, the bedroom of a penthouse on Lexington Avenue did not turn on the lights.

Faint city lights spilled through the windows on the scattered big bed in the bedroom. Against the dim light, the air seemed to be faintly blurred, but there was no one on the bed.

In the corner of the window, the woman wrapped in a bath towel curled up softly on the single sofa, with fluffy and wet hair covering half of her rosy face, tilted her head, with one hand on her lips, She didn't dare to see the man who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet and helping her stretch her calves.

Obviously it was his fault.

At some point, she felt that she was going to be killed.

However, he tried to secretly conceal the fact that he could not bear the cramping of the calf, he found it just before taking a bath, and he had an impulse to escape.

After a while, his eyes carefully glanced over again.

The man lowered his head and looked serious and patient, so his toes lightly nodded on his knee, suggesting that he was all right.

Simon looked up and asked softly: "Would you like to rub the other side?"

No!

He shouted in his heart, still hiding his eyes, and whispered: "Left leg, it's okay, you, it's time to go back to Greenwich."

Simon nodded and said, "I'll send someone some food first."

The woman was stunned.

and then.

Then we are leaving.

Although I didn't want to and didn't dare to argue with Janet, it was the first time for me to have a good time with this little man, even if he turned down a few times and deceived myself.

Suddenly some self-pity was born.

He retracted his calf from his hand and shrank it on the sofa.

Simon saw Sophia look like this, stretched out his hand, the woman felt his touch, hid, and turned her back to him.

The hand didn't give up, and leaned under her with a little force. Sophia's whole body was dragged down, and she fell on the carpet with a whisper, and the towel could not help but unravel.

The jade body is horizontal.

He twisted his body and wanted to stay away from Simon, but there was no way to resist the big hand that the man had caught underestimating him.

I had to look aggrievedly, feeling his eyes wet, and resisting tears.

Seeing that the woman was no longer trying to escape, Simon touched her face and whispered softly: "I can give you not much, and I will give you what I should."

Knowing that he was only half said.

If you can't give it, it's useless to fight or grab.

Xiaodi confronted him for a while, knowing that the man was still waiting for his own response, and finally hummed obediently.

Putting these things down, I suddenly felt that my little emotions just now were a bit inappropriate, worried that he thought his answer was not sincere enough, and took the initiative to paste a post on the man's palm, saying: "I, brought some food in the afternoon, in the kitchen, Just warm it up."

Simon picked up the woman and put it on the big bed, lowered his head and kissed her lips, and said, "Then wait a minute."

The two had a simple dinner together, and Simon returned to Greenwich.

Sophia has been living in Manhattan in the past few days, and it is impossible to return to Greenwich to see the children together tonight.

The next day is Saturday.

Simon and Janet attended the Gucci party at the Gramercy Hotel in Manhattan together in the evening, and after another weekend on the East Coast, they returned to Los Angeles again.

On Daenerys Entertainment’s side, in October, the company released a total of three films, namely Jane Campion’s "Angels at the Table with Me" on October 12, and bought back from the Cannes Film Festival on October 19. "Judou" and "Ten Days of Dangerous Love" scheduled for Halloween on October 26.

Both "Angels and Me at the Table" and "Judou" were published by Gaomen Pictures, and did not have much ambitions at the box office. However, Ella Deutschman has already declared the Oscar for Best Foreign Language for the latter. Film award.

The focus is still on "Ten Days of Crisis" in cooperation with Universal Pictures.

In the previous summer files, "Sleep with the Enemy" cooperating with Fox and "Hands Shaking Cradle" cooperating with Disney have achieved very good box office results. Therefore, Universal's response to "Sleep with the Enemy" which is also a crime thriller "Also full of confidence.

"Ten Days in Crisis" is adapted from the original novel by the famous horror novelist Stephen King, and it is more famous than the former two. The two protagonists, Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon are also well-known Hollywood stars.

Simon has seen this version of "Ten Days in Crisis" more than once before, and has also participated in the production of the trailer.

Compared to the version starring Casey Bates, Simon prefers the new version.

At the same level as a queen, Susan Sarandon’s performance is no less than that of Kathy Bates, and, because of the appearance, the obvious sexual tension between the two protagonists adds to the film a bit. The strange contrast and horror.

Simon returned to Los Angeles, and "Ten Days in Crisis" has entered the final stage of intensive trailer release in publicity.

As one of Daenerys Entertainment’s 10 film plans, since the two previously launched films have achieved high box office and attention, this new film has naturally attracted a lot of media attention, and indirectly is responsible for the distribution of Universal The film industry saved millions of dollars in marketing expenses.

In addition, the publicity work for a series of films scheduled for the end of the year has already begun.

Daenerys Entertainment will mainly launch four movies during Thanksgiving and Christmas at the end of the year.

They are "Dancing with Wolves" by Kevin Costner on November 2nd, "League of Pink Fans" with Columbia Pictures on November 23rd, and "Life Intersection" by Robert Altman on December 7th And "Home Alone" on December 21.

Speaking of it, "Dancing with Wolves", which has gained a good internal reputation after several trial screenings, will become the focus of Daenerys Entertainment's Oscar public relations this year. It stands to reason that the film schedule is more appropriate in December.

However, Simon also has box office ambitions for this movie. In his memory, "Dancing with Wolves" is also a hit film with a North American box office of more than 180 million US dollars. Therefore, in order to avoid conflict with "Home Alone", Simon still Put the film in November.

As for the "Intersection of Life" in December, this movie will certainly pursue an Oscar nomination. However, as everyone knows, Robert Altman’s work has never been pleasing to the Oscar judges. He has previously won the Golden Lion Award in Venice. As a success, the goal of this movie is only to accumulate the long-term box office through the heat of the awards season, and have no expectations for the awards.

The two commercial films, "League of Stars" by Columbia Pictures and "Home Alone" by Daenerys Entertainment, occupies two major periods respectively, and the publicity work is proceeding step by step. Needless to say in this regard.

October 11th, Thursday.

As the time enters mid-October, the shooting of "Batman: The Dark Knight" far away in Australia has entered the final stage and will be completed next week. Simon plans to fly to Melbourne next week to study and shoot samples with several creators to determine whether Need to make up.

After five o'clock in the afternoon, Simon, who would not leave work on time as usual, was discussing the later stage plans of the film with the creator of "The Silent Lambs" at the late studio center. The female assistant appeared and whispered in Simon's ear.

Simon listened to Jennifer's words, thought about it, and said: "Forget about the reception and things like that, tomorrow morning, I will go to Burbank."

Janet just told Simon that Lou Vasalman finally couldn't stand it and took the initiative to invite Simon to a cocktail party tonight. By the way, I would like to talk about the MCA acquisition issue that is well known throughout Hollywood.

After a busy day, Simon only plans to go home after get off work. He doesn't want to become the kind of social creature that attends 200 various parties every year, so he chooses to refuse.

When the female assistant heard Simon say this, she turned and left.

After Simon and "Silent Lambs" director Jonathan Demi finished their discussion, the female assistant reappeared and re-talked about the meeting time tomorrow.

The next day, Simon rushed to Daenerys Studios first, changed an inconspicuous ordinary car, and hurried to Burbank in a low-key manner.

Lou Vasalman waited for him in an office building in the northwest corner of Universal Studios.

The two met and exchanged a few simple greetings, and Vasalman went into the topic: "Simon, everyone now knows that you are interested in Universal. A friend of mine at Citibank told me that you have signed 20 with them. Million dollars in loan intent agreement. So, I don’t understand what are you waiting for?"

The seller takes the initiative to ask the buyer for sale. Under normal circumstances, this is definitely not a wise behavior, and it is equivalent to giving the initiative to the other party.

However, Simon was too complacent this time, and he dragged Vasalman to lose his patience abruptly.

The 77-year-old man should be the one who does not lack patience. But watching MCA’s stock price, which has not been too high because of Daenerys Entertainment’s delay in expressing its position, and Panasonic’s urging, he had to take the initiative. .

Simon is waiting, of course, New York's preparations for Bell Atlantic's takeover.

Because of Panasonic’s official announcement of the MCA acquisition and the news that Daenerys Entertainment intends to participate in the bidding, MCA’s recent share price has been close to $60.

Now that the news is public, Simon believes that the stock price of this company will definitely go straight to $70. Once the market price of MCA stock exceeds Simon's upper limit, it will become a very troublesome problem, and it will be very difficult to reduce it again.

At that time, MCA is also unlikely to accept Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition offer that is lower than the market price.

In contrast, if two acquisitions can be initiated at the same time, and the gesture of abandoning one of them is made, the performance of the market will not be so enthusiastic.

At this time in front of Lou Vasalman, Simon of course would not tell the truth, but he also said frankly: "Lu, I am not sure whether I should participate in the MCA bidding, you know, Danieli The development of Silk Entertainment is very good. I think that even if it does not merge with another Hollywood studio, it only takes a few years to be patient and Daenerys Entertainment will become strong enough."

In fact, MCA’s revenue in the last fiscal year was US$3.3 billion and net profit was US$296 million. This year, due to the poor box office performance of "Back to the Future 3" in the summer season, revenue and profit performance will be even worse. In comparison, not to mention the estimated net profit of more than 1 billion US dollars, but in terms of revenue, Daenerys Entertainment can also surpass MCA this year.

The gap between the two parties is basically just a background.

Speaking carefully, Simon's excuses are indeed not problematic. Daenerys Entertainment has been patiently operating for several years, and it can definitely achieve a state of being completely equal to the seven or even overtaking.

However, it will take time after all.

Even the Universal Studios and record companies owned by MCA can not only rely on time to accumulate.

The history of Universal Studios is almost as long as that of Hollywood. If Daenerys Entertainment now invests in the construction of a studio project, although there is no financial problem, the company also has enough IP resources to support a studio park. However, the new movie The city simply cannot reach the deep-rooted and accumulated influence of Universal Studios and Disneyland.

The same goes for record companies.

Not to mention, just Universal Music's huge music copyright library can not be achieved by a simple short-term accumulation.

What's more, MCA can also form a strong complement to Daenerys Entertainment in terms of distribution channels, movie theaters, and movie library. Simon definitely needs to buy this company.

Lou Vasalman has been in Hollywood for more than half a century, and of course he can see this, saying: "Simon, I had a communication with Akio Furui of Panasonic last week. If you really don't plan to participate, At the latest next week, MCA will submit Panasonic’s offer to the board of directors for review and further shareholder voting. I know that many corporate bidders will participate on the eve of shareholder voting by others, just like Paramount last year. This will give you the best possible grasp of your competitors’ cards and chips, but I don’t think this is necessary for you."

Simon thought.

Prior to this meeting, Simon was also worried that MCA and Panasonic would reach a preliminary agreement this week and promptly initiate a shareholder vote.

Now, according to Vasalman’s remarks, MCA will discuss Panasonic’s acquisition proposal next week, and further shareholder voting will take at least another week, unknowingly it’s the end of October, which coincides with Simon’s planned schedule. .

In that case, Simon was completely relieved.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, Simon said: "Well, Lu, I am really interested in MCA, but I am not going to have an unrestrained bidding war with Panasonic. If you agree, I hope Daenerys Entertainment and MCA signed a secret agreement of intent. Once the acquisition fails, Daenerys Entertainment will not pay the withdrawal fee."

Under normal circumstances, corporate mergers and acquisitions, considering the impact of the acquisition on the target company’s operations and stock price, the party initiating the acquisition usually promises to pay an exit fee after the acquisition fails. The ratio is often between 1% and 5% of the target company’s market value. between.

This means that according to the original MCA's $6.6 billion transaction price, once it wants to launch, the acquirer will need to pay an exit fee of between $66 million and $330 million.

However, nothing is absolute.

As long as the two parties communicate properly, this fee can also be waived.

When Warren Buffett and Tom Murphy’s Metropolitan Company acquired ABC Television Network, Buffett, who was in charge of the acquisition, proposed that, once the acquisition fails, Metropolitan Corporation will not pay huge exit fees. At the time, ABC Television Network executives I agreed.

Of course, that acquisition was a success in the end.

Lou Vasalman heard Simon's request with hesitation on his face.

He can understand that Simon made this request mainly to suppress the market's excessive pursuit of MCA stock. Once learned that Daenerys Entertainment can exit at will without paying any price, investors will be more cautious in the process of buying MCA stocks.

However, this is very risky for MCA.

In the case of two companies bidding for a company, one party has not competed with the other party in the quotation, and there is no need to pay for the exit. Furthermore, the party that wins during the bidding process between the two parties needs to pay the exit fee when it is unable to complete the acquisition in the later negotiation or affected by policy supervision.

If you agree to Simon's condition at this time, once Daenerys Entertainment squeezes Panasonic, and then gives up the acquisition for some reason, without paying any price, then MCA will be crying.

You must know that once the acquisition fails completely, the first thing that will usher in is a sharp drop in MCA's stock price and return to the level before the acquisition. At that time, countless shareholders with heavy book losses will definitely put pressure on the management.

On the other hand, after the toss of an acquisition case, the operation of the company itself will also be seriously affected.

Just like MGM, if it weren't for being sold repeatedly in the 1980s, but for patience, this veteran studio wouldn't be as dead as it is now.