Chapter Seven Hundred and Seventy-Ninth Hand in the Transcript

Relying on the ratings boom caused by the second seasons of "Wanted City" and "America's Next Top Model", Lifetime TV took advantage of the situation to launch several other original series.

Although the results cannot be compared with the two ratings leaders, it is enough to fill in the content of other viewing periods of Lifetime TV, instead of "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model" like last fall's top-notch, other The embarrassing situation that the viewing period is still deserted.

At the same time that Lifetime TV began to discuss the new annual sharing contract with cable operators more confidently, other media groups that have been paying attention to Lifetime TV also began to study the reasons for the rise of this TV station. Yes, they intend to follow suit. This kind of The matter is not only in the film industry now, even the three ffm paid cable stations that Firefly are preparing are actually planning to follow the trend of hbo.

However, although the cable TV industry is in the stage of a big outbreak, Eric is not worried about these later followers. After all, in this country where all industries are firmly controlled by capital, if the situation is still completely There are not many people who are decisive and willing to invest in the absence of clarity. When they react, Lifetime has already established its position in the industry.

Similarly, in this country of capital, the first few months of each year are the time for major corporate giants to "hand in transcripts" to investors, the media and the public.

Hollywood Seven, after last year's film sea tactics, coupled with the natural growth brought about by the strong recovery of the US economy, Time Warner's annual revenue in 1995 reached 11 billion US dollars.

However, among the 25 films released by Time Warner throughout the year, in addition to "Batman Forever", which invested US$100 million in global box office receipts of US$330 million, coupled with lucrative peripherals, it was barely profitable. Big-budget films over $50 million generally end badly.

In particular, the production cost of "Future Water World" is as high as 175 million US dollars, but the North American box office is only more than 80 million. Although the global box office has reached 260 million, due to the general low income and high tax situation in overseas markets, Warner Pictures finally only won the global box office. More than 90 million US dollars were recovered in the share, and this project alone brought more than 100 million US dollars of losses to Time Warner.

Although Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting Company and HBO and other cable television businesses were lucrative, they could not withstand the bleak film business deficit. In the end, the entire group lost 280 million for the whole year, more than triple the amount last year. The earnings report was released, and there was turmoil within Time Warner again. Ted Turner, the founder of Turner Broadcasting Corporation and a major shareholder of Time Warner, even proposed to the board of directors to split Time Warner, although the general trend in recent years is resources. Integration, this suggestion still got the response of many board members.

With the strong revenue performance of Blockbuster's video tape rental and sales chain, Viacom Group, which is firmly controlled by Summer Redstone, has also exceeded 10 billion in annual revenue, just after Time Warner, reaching a scale of 107 US dollars. However, compared to Time Warner's huge losses, Paramount achieved a net profit of $760 million for the year.

In terms of comprehensive strength, News Corporation, which has a business scope throughout the Western world, can be compared with Time Warner. However, News Corporation, which has a business scope all over the world, is too complicated in terms of financial system and equity structure, and its business in some countries and regions is even will be billed separately. As a result, Twentieth Century Fox, the subsidiary responsible for the domestic film and television business in the United States, has become the main representative of News Corp. Because of this, the status of Twentieth Century Fox is very similar to that of Universal, which is controlled by Seagram Group, and Columbia, which is controlled by Sony. Coupled with the rapid recovery of MGM, the subsequent four major companies have different profits and losses, but they cannot be compared with the top three giants.

In the past few months at the beginning of the year, the American media have counted the respective performances of the six Hollywood giants one after another, but they still have not been able to wait for the most anticipated annual financial report of the Firefly Group.

Although the eagerly-anticipated media people are struggling, after several low-key board meetings and consultations with the group's main creditors, a group of high-level executives finally decided not to release the Firefly Group's financial report.

For non-listed companies, publishing financial report data has a very clear purpose. For example, last year, because of the huge bond issuance of up to 8 billion US dollars, the integration of abc group has not been completely completed, and Ron Perelman's acquisition of Firefly bonds and other events, in order to prevent unnecessary speculation and worries in the capital market, Firefly released the financial data for the whole year.

This year, everything within the group has been on the right track, and there is no internal or external trouble, so there is no need to do such superfluous things in order to satisfy the curiosity of the capital market or the media and the public.

Of course, Eric doesn't want to be too ostentatious is another very important reason.

After several months of financial statistics, Firefly Group's annual revenue data was finally fixed at 23.9 billion US dollars, and its operating net profit was 2.57 billion. If the follow-up payment of 1.25 billion US dollars from the sale of abc paper media assets and Disney's hand-drawn animation studio is included , Firefly's annual profit has reached 3.82 billion US dollars, not to mention that this data is enough to say 'you come together' to the remaining six arrogant. If you compare it upwards, in 1995, Ford, the most profitable of all corporate giants in the United States, had an annual revenue of $128.4 billion and a net profit of only $5.3 billion. Even if Firefly's non-operating profit of $1.25 billion is removed, the net profit of $2.57 billion is enough to squeeze into the top ten of the US corporate profit rankings.

The detailed annual financial data is only known to the Firefly Group's board of directors and core executives, and even some important creditors only know a general idea. Given the professionalism of these people, of course they will not be disclosed to the media.

Therefore, with the public data such as movie box office and TV program ratings, although relevant media and analysis agencies can predict that the annual profit of Firefly Group will be very terrifying, without any detailed data, they can only rely on known information. self-assessment.

Because of the lack of the official endorsement of the Firefly Group, even if these media data are almost the same as the real data, they cannot be universally recognized. When some members of the public see the terrifying annual profit figures of the Firefly Group in financial magazines, their first reaction is even Question the accuracy of these numbers, after all, if the annual profit figure of nearly $4 billion is true, Firefly Group's profit is enough to compete with the other six. Dividing 50% of the profits of the entire Hollywood by oneself has never happened in the entire history of Hollywood.

Amid the commotion, the announcement of Forbes magazine's 1996 rich list once again caused the media to explode.

After the release of Windows 95, with Microsoft's operating system dominating the arena, Bill Gates, who owns 40% of Microsoft's shares, soared from $12.9 billion last year to $18.5 billion. Behind him, Warren Buffett and other three others The super rich have assets that also cross the threshold of tens of billions of dollars.

However, at the top of this list, the eye-catching figure of 67.7 billion US dollars is like the bright moon in the night sky, setting off all the shimmering stars around it.

Compared with last year's 46.5 billion, in just one year, Eric's personal wealth has soared by 21.2 billion US dollars at a rate far exceeding that of everyone on the rich list.

When the list was announced, Steve Forbes, president of Forbes Group, wrote: "If Eric Williams bet on the Kuwait war with his entire fortune six years ago, it would still be a reckless gamble. , Over the years, Eric Williams has proved that he not only has amazing talent in film and television media, but as a pure investor, he also has a keen eye that ordinary people can't match."

"Beginning with Yahoo in 1991, in the past five years, Eric Williams has successively invested a huge sum of nearly 5 billion US dollars in the emerging high-tech industries such as the Internet and mobile communications, and five years later, these investments are at least It has quadrupled to over $20 billion in value.”

"Of course, although Eric Williams' investment in the high-tech industry appears to be very successful, it is undeniable that the increasingly powerful Firefly Group in Hollywood is the real foundation of Eric Williams. The group has brought Eric Williams a steady stream of lucrative profits, and he has been able to show his talents in the investment industry."

"Compared to publicly held companies such as Time Warner and Viacom, Firefly Group has not released its annual financial data for 1995, but according to available public information, Firefly's annual turnover in 1995 should be $24 billion. Around that, this number even exceeds the combined annual revenue of Time Warner and Viacom.”

"In terms of profits, the profitability of Firefly Group is even more terrifying. Compared with Time Warner's annual loss of 280 million US dollars and Viacom's annual net profit of 760 million US dollars, Firefly Group's operating net profit in 1995 should be 2.3 billion. To $2.6 billion, it is equivalent to four times that of Viacom, and even close to the combined profits of the six major studios, Time Warner, Viacom, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal, and MGM. "

"This kind of incredible profitability makes me think, maybe, the IRS could really consider imposing an 'Alien Immigration Administration Tax' on someone, well, that's a joke."

The release of the new Forbes Rich List, while the media set off a heated discussion, the most direct impact was on the day the latest issue of "Forbes" magazine was released, because the magazine mentioned in detail Eric's investment in the high-tech industry As well as returns, the Nasdaq index in the United States was directly stimulated and rose by 5% on the day, while many high-tech star stocks including Cisco, America Online, and Microsoft even rose by more than 10%.

The credibility of Forbes magazine is still very strong. Compared with the exaggerated or conservative profit estimates of Firefly Group by other financial magazines, the data published by Forbes magazine has obviously received more recognition.

The continuous outbreak of the global film market and the fact that Hollywood has conquered cities around the world are almost well known, but after seeing the terrifying profitability of the Firefly Group, despite the losses of Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures as negative cases, it still failed to stop A large number of capital forces are flocking to Hollywood again.

Under such circumstances, on March 25, the 68th Academy Awards ceremony was held as scheduled at the Holy Citizen Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Although Eric was invited as usual, he was also absent again.

Not too busy or anything, the main reason is that sitting motionless for three hours at the Oscars is not a pleasant thing. What's more, Firefly's films still only received some nominations this year, and Eric didn't have any need to attend.

Eric didn't want to go, and Drew, who had already started looking for a dress, also turned down the invitation, and the two stayed together in the girl's Beverly Hills mansion to watch the live broadcast.

The script of "The Shawshank Redemption" is still lying in the corner honestly, and there is no Oscar tragedy this year.

In addition to the award-winning hit "Forrest Gump", several other nominated films such as "Apollo 13" and "Baby Pig" have not shown the popularity and influence that can rival "Forrest Gump".

In the end, "Forrest Gump" successfully won six awards including best picture and best director with 13 nominations. Tom Hanks also successfully won the best actor, creating a new milestone in the history of the Oscars.

Although I did not attend the Oscar ceremony, the celebration party is definitely indispensable.

Because Firefly and MGM are combined, this year's main nominated film is only "Forrest Gump", there is really no need to hold a separate celebration banquet. Coupled with a personal call from Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, Eric decided to celebrate tonight at the Oscar party hosted by Vanity Fair.

Tonight's Vanity Fair party was held at an art center at the foot of Beverly Hills, less than five kilometers away from the Trousdale Manor where Drew's mansion was located. Eric and the girl were in no hurry and kept broadcasting the awards ceremony live. After reading it, I set off to the party location.

It was just after nine o'clock in the evening in Western time. The car stopped in the parking lot outside the art center. Eric and Drew had just got out of the car. When the media reporters squatting outside rushed up, the dazzling spotlights flashed like crazy. .

The interview opportunities inside the Vanity Fair party will definitely not be open to the public, but outside the party, the organizer can't control it.

"Eric, do you think the numbers published by Forbes magazine are accurate?" ⑧☆miào⑧☆bi(.*)gé⑧☆.$.

"Mr. Williams, what do you think of Tom Hanks winning the Oscar for Best Actor?"

"Is there a PR element to this?"

"Eric, how are you preparing for your new film?"

"Dru, do you and Eric have any plans to marry?"

"When are you going to have children?"

"..."

Eric and the girl just smiled at the camera in a formulaic manner. In a series of messy questions, several bodyguards and the security guards of the organizer quickly surrounded them and protected the two of them into the party venue.