Hollywood Hunter

The news that Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner had a heart attack and fell into a coma and the news that Daenerys Entertainment Group was about to establish a movie theme park in Europe quickly fermented on Thursday.

Although there were only three Disney executives at the scene of the incident, some media still connected the two incidents in a straightforward manner. It is speculated that Michael Eisner may have heard that Daenerys Entertainment is about to start building Europe Cosmos. The'bad news' of the studios just got a heart attack.

During this period of time, because of a series of events including Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner’s fallout, Disney President Frank Wells’s upcoming retirement, and Vivendi’s acquisition of Disney Company, Disney was in Danny’s Lisi Entertainment’s listing of news hotspots still gained a lot of media pages.

The internal turmoil of Disney and the continued decline in performance for several years have caused the federal media and Wall Street to continue to look down upon this major Hollywood studio.

The exposure of Vivendi Group’s intention to acquire Disney Company finally triggered a wave of share price rebound. Following the exposure of Eisner’s heart attack and Daenerys Entertainment’s Universal Studios Europe plan, the company’s share price again on Thursday. Began to fall.

Of course, the focus of many media and capital is still Daenerys Entertainment.

Disneyland Paris is already a catastrophic existence. It is not easy for such a theme park with long-term profitability to even file for bankruptcy. For the multi-billion dollar investment of all parties in the early stage and the employment of tens of thousands of employees, this theme park In any case, it can only survive in continuous losses.

With such a bad case ahead, is Daenerys Entertainment going to repeat the same mistakes?

Daenerys Entertainment, who has just completed an IPO, has a lot of money. Everyone knows this, but no matter how much money, it can't be used to make money.

However, some people are on the side of Daenerys Entertainment.

Just as Daenerys Global Operations Vice President Mark Belford said in the article in The Hollywood Reporter, the overall scale of the European film market is much larger than that of Japan. The establishment of theme parks in Europe is very conducive to further promotion and deepening of Dany. Lisi Entertainment's corporate brand.

The potential advertising effects brought about by the theme parks hosting tens of millions of tourists each year are definitely not quantifiable by the profit and loss figures of the park itself.

The reason why Disney in Simon’s memory was able to become Hollywood’s leading entertainment giant is due to the brand value gains that Disney parks around the world have brought to this company, including Paris, which has been losing money for decades. The same is true for Disney.

Therefore, since the opening of Disneyland in Paris in 1992, Simon has been planning a similar plan in his mind.

The overall film market scale is no less than that of the European continent in North America, and there must be a theme park under the Daenerys Entertainment Group. Even if it loses money for a long time like Disneyland Paris, this matter must be implemented.

It was just that the planning of Universal Studios Osaka had just been completed at that time, and Simon did not rush to launch two huge theme park projects at the same time.

Now, the time has come.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to release the news, it can be regarded as helping the hesitant Disney shareholders to make up their minds to sell the company.

As for the follow-up, the site selection and planning of the theme park will take at least one to two years. By then, Universal Studios Osaka has opened, and Daenerys Entertainment can calmly transfer the current construction and planning team of Universal Studios Osaka to Europe.

After the exposure of the "Hollywood Reporter" in the morning, Daenerys Entertainment deliberately published a more detailed article on the Eaglet Portal during the day, explaining the necessity of building Universal Studios Europe.

However, the market still gave the most direct feedback on Daenerys Entertainment's decision.

On Thursday’s trading day, Daenerys Entertainment’s stock price began to fall since the opening. By the end of the afternoon, the decline reached 2.6%. The market value fell from US$117.2 billion to US$114.1 billion. In one day, US$3 billion disappeared.

Daenerys Entertainment's management did not respond much to this.

Whether it is public or private, Simon has repeatedly emphasized his point of view that Daenerys Entertainment's operations will not be affected by short-term stock price fluctuations, but will focus on long-term planning.

If an investor does not recognize Daenerys Entertainment's business philosophy, he can sell his stock.

With the current strength of the Westeros system, even re-privatizing the entire Daenerys Entertainment Group will be easy.

On the other hand, Disney is in a hurry.

Michael Eisner woke up in the morning. However, the results of the heart examination of the Disney head were very unoptimistic. Because of the long-term high-intensity work, Michael Eisner’s hereditary heart disease continued to deteriorate. , The results of the examination showed that the degree of blockage of many arteries in Eisner’s heart has exceeded 98%. If the operation is not performed as soon as possible, he will not live for a year.

Moreover, because the condition is too serious, the risk of surgery is also very high.

It may even die directly on the operating table.

The reporters gathered outside the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan that day, under the strict guard of Disney, got the results of Eisner's heart examination for the first time.

Perhaps most people don't understand the severity of arterial blockage exceeding 98%, but everyone can be sure that in the short term, it is impossible for Michael Eisner to re-host Disney's work.

Because the news of Vivendi’s acquisition of Disney Company was leaked, Disney’s recent share price had slowly rebounded. As the bad news of Eisner’s illness spread, on Thursday, Disney’s share price also fell by 3.3%. US$6.9 billion fell back to US$6.6 billion.

In the evening, Disney finally held a press conference to report Michael Eisner’s condition and announced that Disney’s management rights will be temporarily represented by President Frank Wells. Frank Wells, who personally presided over the press conference, also said that he has signed a temporary agreement with Disney to extend his term of office for one year until the Disney company is completely stabilized.

Not only that, Disney also quickly appointed Bill Michannick, president of Disney's home entertainment department, as the president of Disney Studios at the press conference, taking over the former position of Jeffrey Katzenberg, and managing all Disney film affairs.

When asked by reporters whether Disney will accept the takeover offer of Vivendi Group, Frank Wells said very smoothly that this is something that Disney's board of directors and major shareholders need to consider, and he is only responsible for taking care of the company for the time being.

Compared to Disney's firm refusal when the news was leaked some time ago, Frank Wells's statement has obviously loosened a lot.

The next day, the federal media covered two major events in Hollywood early in the morning.

Moreover, the two things are still commonly discussed in connection with each other.

Most of the media are still not optimistic about Daenerys Entertainment's Universal Studios Europe plan, and even the details of the failure of Disneyland Paris in the past two years have been pulled out.

However, although Michael Eisner's sudden illness caused a brief turmoil in Disney, Frank Wells's statement at the press conference yesterday has once again made the media and capital feel a certain tendency.

Including a telephone interview with a reporter from the ABC television network that morning, Sid Buss, the head of the Bath family, the major shareholder of Disney. Although the other party's tone is reluctant to share Disney shares, anyone can feel it, Sid Buss’s tone is not firm at all, and his attitude in the interview is more like a bid to sell.

Disney’s previous turmoil and recession, Disney’s head Michael Eisner, who resolutely opposed the sale, fell ill, and the strong uncertainty that Daenerys Entertainment’s Universal Studios Europe plan brought to Disneyland Paris, combining these elements, The sale of Disney has become more and more likely.

Then, the federal media realized a problem again.

We can no longer allow overseas capital to continue to erode our cultural industry.

On Friday morning, the "Washington Post" commented on this, calling on the federal government to take measures to restrict overseas capital's acquisition of major Hollywood studios. The Wall Street Journal also mentioned the media integration ban. At this stage, the only companies that can compete with the Vivendi Group and achieve synergy are the three established U.S. television networks. Therefore, to prevent this acquisition, Congress must quickly Promote the lifting of the ban on media integration.

Faced with media appeals, at the regular press conference that day, the White House spokesperson said that Mr. President attaches great importance to protecting the American cultural industry. He has communicated with Congress many times before, but the final decision on this matter is still in the hands of Congress.

In his words, he attacked the ‘inaction’ of certain politicians in both houses of Congress.

The White House spokesperson even stated that when necessary, Mr. President will ask the Justice Department to veto certain acquisitions that may affect the development of American culture.

Although the two houses of Congress are in the hands of the Democratic Party for the time being, many of the plans Clinton has tried to implement in the past year or so have all touched the Congress. The White House and Congress have had a very unpleasant quarrel.

Congress, of course, was unwilling to accept the White House's ridicule, and quickly responded.

For a while, the two sides began to quarrel.

The protection of the cultural industry in the United States has suddenly become a topic frequently asked by the media for candidates for the U.S. Congress who have begun sprinting for the second half of the midterm elections.

As for when the media integration ban, which everyone is concerned about, will be lifted, no one has given an accurate answer.

Simon has been in San Francisco since Wednesday.

In addition to the various matters of the Westeros system in the Internet field, Simon has mainly discussed with the core management of Cisco, AOL, and Eaglet on the antitrust investigation that the US Department of Justice will officially launch at the end of this month.

In order to prevent Congress from setting up a special investigative committee to target the Westeros system in advance, the U.S. Department of Justice, which is responsible for it, becomes passive. Some time ago, the White House has already ventilated ahead of time to target the Westeros system. The antitrust investigation of the Internet giants is imperative.

During this time, Simon got the exact news again, and the investigation will start at the end of July.

Since the White House has quietly revealed the timing of the antitrust investigation, it actually wants to form a tacit understanding with the Westeros system.

Of course Simon would not be so stupid not to cooperate.

As for how to cooperate?

What the White House wants is political performance, which is an account of federal voters. Then, the Westeros system takes the initiative to send political performance to the White House.

This is definitely better than the fact that the Department of Justice directly initiates an investigation into the Westeros system without communication at all, which ultimately leads to uncertain consequences.

Not only that, but to reach some tacit understanding in advance, the Westeros system can also actively cooperate to build momentum.

For example, this time, after discussion, it is determined that one of the measures to make concessions is that Eaglet will take the initiative to split its application software department. There is no strong complementarity between Eaglet’s software business and network business. Even if it is split, it will not have much impact on Eaglet’s overall development.

Simon has made a similar layout early on.

However, it does not actually have much impact on Eaglet. However, in terms of media, since it has decided to make concessions in this regard, it is definitely necessary to exaggerate the effect of the combination of Eaglet’s software business and network business on the federal Internet industry. How severe the damage has been caused, how will it hinder the development of small businesses, how necessary is the separation of the two, and Daenerys Entertainment’s resistance to the federal government’s attempt to split these two businesses How fierce.

With such a momentum, when the two major business departments are finally split, the media and the public will see a super-Internet oligarch being split into two under a strong antitrust investigation by the federal government, and they will be greatly satisfied with the same kind who do not know the truth. New technology companies also think that their spring is finally here.

The White House's approval rating will rise further.

The Westeros system can also avoid the bloat of Eaglet.

Everyone has something, and each has a good time.

In addition to Eaglet, AOL and Cisco will also make certain concessions in this antitrust investigation.

AOL will take the initiative to abandon the ten-year exclusive contract signed with the three major operators. Cisco will also promise to limit the proportion of equipment provided to AOL and other operators within a certain range, so as to provide small companies in the United States. Enterprises leave a certain market share.

Of course, Simon would not be stupid to agree to the various conditions of the Ministry of Justice in three or five months.

These concessions will not be confirmed until at least one or two years or even longer antitrust investigations, and the final implementation will be even more protracted.

So until Friday.

July 22, nine o'clock in the morning.

Simon personally rushed to an office building not too far from the headquarters of Igreat in downtown Palo Alto to participate in the launch ceremony of the Instagram website led by Lady D.

After three months of development preparations and internal testing, the photo sharing website Instagram was officially launched today.

The final design style of the website is very similar to the Instagram in Simon’s memory. It is a very simple “photo wall” in the eyes of many people. Among the several girls who participated in the angel investment of the Instagram website under the leadership of Simon, many are worried about this website. Is it too simple to be less attractive? Simon has no such worries.

Simple and easy to use, this is one of the core characteristics of the success of many Internet companies. What's more, the simplicity of the layout does not mean the lack of website functions.

The Google in my memory is a typical example of the simple style of the Internet.

Moreover, for Instagram, the most important thing is users and rich content resources. Without these, the design of the website will not help.