Chapter 742 Gu Family

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After dinner, the two did not rush to leave the restaurant. After ordering two cups of coffee, Eric talked about setting up a branch in the digital field in Australia. book

"The annual turnover in the digital field is now close to $1 billion, right?" Elizabeth asked with some envy after hearing this.

Eric nodded: "However, because most of the orders are made within Firefly, the profit margin is not high, only 10%."

In order to prevent the exodus of outstanding special effects artists in the digital field, Eric offered very generous salaries and bonuses for these people, thus ensuring that the talents in the digital field are still in short supply even when the entire industry is in short supply. Very low churn rate.

Higher labor costs have also greatly reduced the overall profitability of the digital field. However, Eric did not expect the special effects company to bring too much profit to Firefly. The main role of the digital field is to assist in the production of Firefly's films and to keep Firefly a strong position in the special effects field.

Elizabeth also understood some of the key points, saying: "For the Fortune 500, which is published every month, the entry-level company's receivables are only 2.2 billion US dollars. With the current tightness of the special effects industry, as long as the digital field continues to expand, At that time, the independent city will definitely be able to easily join this list. Why do you want to set up a branch in Australia, although you can get some discounts, but away from Hollywood, many things will become very inconvenient.”

"Now that there are more and more special effects companies in Hollywood, you can definitely find this. Therefore, the biggest factor restricting the development of special effects companies in the future will no longer be technology, but cost. I am preparing in advance. ."

Elizabeth nodded knowingly, stirring the coffee in front of her with a spoon, and said after a while: "I have rarely returned to Australia these years, and things over there are not familiar at all. You want to contact the Australian government. You should Talk to my dad about it."

"Your old man is a ghost, and I don't want to deal with him."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and said, "You mean, I'm better off cheating."

"Well," Eric nodded solemnly and joked, "However, your comprehension is still fine."

Elizabeth raised her spoon threateningly. Then she put it down and said, "I think so. I really can't help you." After hesitating, she continued: "Dad has already started to train Lachlan and James to be responsible for the newspaper business. Our family's business in Australia , most of them are paper media businesses, and it is not convenient for me to intervene there."

Although News Corporation's newspapers and media spread all over the world, Australia is the base of News Corporation. News Corporation controls 70% of Australia's media resources, and the UK's 40% share is much higher.

Although Eric is well aware of the declining trend of print media in the future. But Murdoch obviously doesn't think so, and he has always regarded the print media business as the foundation of News Corp.

Eric can hear from Elizabeth's brief words that Murdoch still prefers to let his son take over the industry, otherwise he will not let the two of them be responsible for the basic business of News Corporation, and only let his daughter In charge of film business.

At this time, with the large number of newspapers owned around the world. More than 50% of News Corp's profits come from the print media business. In addition, there are some TV stations in Australia, the Far East and the United Kingdom. Although Fox has developed very well in recent years, within the entire News Corp system, there are still Not the most important.

However, if this situation develops. The future can be lively.

In my memory, News Corporation underwent a split more than ten years later, and was re-split into News Corporation, which mainly focuses on print media business, and Fox Group, which mainly focuses on film and TV business. At that time, because of the print media business. The decline of the new News Corporation market value of only more than two billion US dollars,

Only Fox Group has 2% of the market value of more than 80 billion yuan.

So. As long as Elizabeth can firmly control Fox, it is actually equivalent to inheriting the entire News Corporation.

By then, tsk...

"What are you thinking, laughing so badly?" Elizabeth's voice sounded in her ears.

"No, it's nothing," Eric immediately shook his head and said, "I think since your old man has arranged this way, you can run Fox's business with peace of mind. Well, you don't have to worry about the branch in the digital field. , I took the time to talk to him in person."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked at Eric for a moment, pouted her lips, and said, "It always feels like you are making a bad idea."

"Liz, you have to believe that I have always been towards you."

"Is this 'You' singular or plural?"

Eric did not hesitate: "Singular."

A smile appeared on the corner of Elizabeth's mouth, but she still said, "It's strange to believe you."

Since he made up his mind to let Elizabeth run Fox with peace of mind, Eric stopped talking about the branch in the digital field. After drinking coffee, he looked at his watch and said, "It's still early, let's take you to a movie."

"Oh..." Elizabeth dragged a small voice and said with a little dissatisfaction: "This is the first time you invited me to watch a movie?"

"Is it the first time, it seems that I have to pick and choose, how about "Solitary Day"?"

"I didn't watch your movie, I went to see "The King of Big Talk"."

"She's a good girl who takes care of her family. She thinks of her own family when watching a movie," Eric boasted as he handed the credit card to the waiter to check out.

Elizabeth raised her chin, very proud: "Yes, it doesn't look like you."

...

In the following days, Eric personally communicated with Murdoch about relevant matters, and Murdoch was naturally very willing to help. However, he still put forward conditions, hoping that News Corporation could take a stake in the Australian branch of the digital field.

Eric did not hesitate, and readily agreed to give News Corp 30% of the branch shares.

Under Murdoch's matchmaking, Stan Winston soon took the management team to Australia to negotiate with the local government. The Australian government is of course aware of the advantages of a large special effects company settling in the country, and it is also very eager. With the mediation of the local snake Murdoch family, they quickly came up with a ten-year tax relief plan.

At the same time, in order to attract more films to be filmed, the Australian government also gave a cash subsidy of US$7.5 million for "The Matrix" to be filmed in Australia, which is equivalent to 10% of the filming budget of "The Matrix".

Hollywood, of course, also reciprocated. After the announcement of "The Matrix", the special effects of Tol King's "Lord of the Rings" series will also be fully handled by the Australian Digital Domain branch.

While these things happen. In August, another piece of world-shattering news took place on American soil.

On August 24, Microsoft officially released the Windows 95 window system at its Seattle headquarters. With a more superior user experience and overwhelming publicity, Windows 95 achieved 1.4 million sales in the first week of its release. Unlike Yahoo's free browser, Windows 95 has a list price of $210. This price can never be said to be cheap even after 20 years, so. The sales of 1.4 million copies in the first week generated nearly $300 million in sales for Microsoft, and Microsoft's stock price rose again.

Because the operating system of the competitor Apple is getting more and more outdated, there has not been much innovation in these years, and the sales of new PC products recently released by Apple have suffered from waterloo due to various problems. Therefore, after the release of Windows 95, it immediately showed The situation of unifying the rivers and lakes. But Apple is far behind. While Windows 95 is selling well, the sales of Apple computers have also ushered in a cliff-like decline.

Eric of course also received an invitation to the Windows 95 conference, but he did not go to Seattle to join in the fun.

After all, although Windows95 sells well, Er's mood is not very good.

Because in the following weeks of research, Windows95 operating system. The most popular software is the latest Yahoo browser bundled and released by Yahoo in the same period. After the browser, it is still not the own software of the Microsoft platform, but the YCR chat tool owned by Yahoo. After that, it is Microsoft's own software. Office software suite.

Windows95 system greatly reduces the difficulty of using computers for ordinary people. But there was an idea in Bill Gates' mind to make wedding clothes for others. There is no doubt that the capital market is also very sensitive to this change. At the same time as Microsoft's stock has risen sharply, Wall Street's highest valuation of Yahoo has been raised to $5.6 billion. Many investment institutions have begun to contact Yahoo frequently, hoping to participate in investment.

Stimulated by this, a week after the release of Windows95. Microsoft hastily launched the MSN portal station, which is in charge of Jeff Locke. The layout basically refers to the format of the Yahoo portal, which is an announcement to enter the Internet industry.

Although Jeff Locke was also responsible for a part of the research and development work in the early stage of Yahoo, he has been in charge of the station operation since then, and the time is very tight. It is conceivable that MSN can only be regarded as a mere appearance. Whether it is content or user experience, it is far from the same. Unable to compare with Yahoo Portal.

Eric just browsed the MSN portal interface a few times, and completely put aside his worries. In the current form of the MSN portal, even if it develops for a few years, it may not be able to catch up with Microsoft, not to mention that Yahoo is also fast. Progress.

Time enters September, and the North American summer season is completely over. Although several major film companies are at the end of the summer season, because Firefly and MGM have no new releases, they have regained some market share. But throughout the 14-week summer season, Firefly and MGM still occupied more than 50% of the market share.

The worst performance this summer is Sony-Columbia. Because of the loss of the distribution rights of "Forrest Gump" and "Night at the Museum", Sony can only buy a few movies to fill the gap, but these The film generally only has a box office of 10 to 20 million US dollars, and the highest box office is only 31 million US dollars. Throughout the summer period, the total box office of Sony Pictures is even less than 100 million US dollars.

Because of the "Batman Forever" supporting scene, Time Warner's summer box office share is not low, but because of the high cost disadvantage, Warner's film business has to face large-scale losses from several other Hollywood companies.

In addition to Firefly and MGM, only Universal and Fox performed better. Paramount originally had a new Tom Cruise movie, but considering the bombardment of the summer blockbuster, the schedule was postponed to the new year. , resulting in Paramount's performance is also not sullen, the results are only slightly better than Sony.

The Firefly headquarters is still cheering for the still good box office results this summer, but Eric has already rushed to New York again.

Entering September, the summer season is over, but the autumn season of TV dramas has already begun.

"America's Next Top Model" and "Project Runway" are coming to an end, and Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelinsta have even let go of the project, temporarily devoting themselves to the new year's Victoria's Preparations for the secret show.

Eric came to New York, in addition to paying attention to the two reality shows, mainly for a short rest.

East Hampton, the weather in September is already very cool, Eric sat lazily on the lawn of the manor reading the script in his hand, and Joanna sat quietly beside him, peeling this apple.

After a while, a peeled apple was handed over, and Eric took a bite but didn't pick it up.

Joanna smiled and asked, "How about this script?"

"There are still some areas for improvement, but overall, I am still very satisfied." Eric said, turning another page.

Joanna said: "Seeing how you have been so interested in this script all this time, are you excited?"

Eric raised his eyebrows and nodded: "Yes, it's almost time to start my next movie, but the main reason is that I prefer this script."

The script written by Eric is the "007 Casino Royale" that he and MGM's screenwriting team have been preparing.

The original Casino Royale, set after 2010.

Although it is the first part of Ian Fleming's original work, except for the plot in the casino, the others still have little to do with Ian Fleming.

The story revolves around a huge sum of money, and there are still all kinds of chases, fights and explosions. However, in the original version, the first woman who made Bond fall for her appeared, and this woman named Vesper also became a An integral part of the success of this Bond sequel.

Even, the subsequent sequels have more or less mentioned the Bond girl that Bond loved for the first time.

Eric himself also likes this character very much. Therefore, although the script story of Hand has been changed a lot in order to match the agent movie universe, the role of Vesper has been completely retained.

Eric is now considering the role of Vesper. Eva Green, who remembers the role of Vesper, is still just a fifteen-year-old girl, and the character's unique shrewd, stubborn, gloomy, mysterious and other temperament is not so easy to replace, Searching all over Hollywood, Eric could not think of such a suitable candidate for a while.

(To be continued.)

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