Several days later.
Warner Bros. Pictures.
Today, all the executives at Warner Bros. Pictures, no matter how busy they were, even those who were out of town on business, rushed back to the company.
"Can't we not attend?"
"Buddy, you should know that Steve Case and Steve Ross are the ones coming today~"
A Warner Bros. Pictures executive said in a deep voice.
Steve Case, founder of America Online, currently serves as Chairman and CEO of AOL Time Warner.
Steve Ross, former Chairman of Time Warner Inc., now serves as Vice Chairman, Executive Director, and Executive President of AOL Time Warner.
For either of these two big figures to visit Warner Bros. Pictures would be like an ancient emperor gracing the presence, let alone both of them arriving together.
"Everyone, be smart. If anyone dares to cause trouble, just watch how I deal with them?!" President Barry Meyer sternly warned the executives.
Upon hearing this, many immediately nodded vigorously.
However... a few still ignored Barry Meyer's words.
For example: John Lasseter!
John Lasseter, male, 45 years old, was an executive appointed to Warner Bros. Pictures after America Online acquired Time Warner Inc.; his main task was to curb President Barry Meyer's power and strive to ensure that AOL's executives controlled the major power of Warner, one of Hollywood's Big Six.
Two companies merging?
Heh heh, now it seems like a complete joke.
They're constantly fighting internally!
Especially with the burst of the internet bubble, the newly merged AOL Time Warner Inc. was riddled with internal conflicts.
Before long... the conference room door was pushed open.
Steve Case and Steve Ross,
The two bigwigs, both named "Steve," walked into the conference room together.
"Mr. Case~"
"Mr. Ross~"
Everyone in the conference room stood up and greeted them in unison.
"Please be seated."
As the current chairman, Steve Case naturally took the head seat without hesitation. Well, this position was originally held by Steve Ross, the former chairman.
"His tone is cold!" an executive couldn't help but murmur.
Upon hearing this, an executive next to him couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and whispered, "Both bigwigs have stern faces, they must be here to assign blame."
As expected... "My purpose for coming to Warner Bros. Pictures today is very simple: I am very, very, very dissatisfied with your work performance!"
Steve Case, as the current chairman, said coldly, "Warner Bros. Pictures' performance in the first half of 2000 declined by 17% compared to last year. Some might make excuses, saying it's due to the teething problems during company integration."
"Oh, a good excuse."
"Then what about the performance in the second half of this year?"
"23%!"
"In the second half of this year, your performance declined by 23%, marking the largest drop for Warner Bros. Pictures since 1990!"
"Tsk tsk tsk~, you wouldn't still be looking for excuses, would you?!"
Upon hearing this, all the Warner executives present looked extremely displeased.
President Barry Meyer's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to speak but held back.
Bang!!!
Suddenly, Steve Case slammed the table and roared, "Warner Bros. Pictures' performance this year is squarely at the bottom of Hollywood's Big Six, even worse than Kyle Page's company. What face do you still have? It's a disgrace!"
Everyone was silent.
President Barry Meyer showed a look of shame; there were some things he wanted to say, but couldn't bring himself to.
Why did Warner Bros. Pictures' performance decline so sharply this year?
The reason is simple!
Severe internal strife!
John Lasseter, the current vice president of Warner Bros. Pictures, is in charge of the production department, but his work for the past few decades has been in the internet industry. How would he know anything about film production?
It's one thing for an outsider not to understand movies.
The most crucial thing is that he was also busy seizing power from Barry Meyer.
Heh heh, under such internal and external difficulties, if Warner Bros. Pictures could do well, that would be a miracle!
"Cough cough cough~"
Just then, Steve Ross, the former Warner chairman and current vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, stood up to mediate.
"Gentlemen, have you all understood Mr. Case's words? The decline in performance is an issue we must face and take seriously. Therefore, my intention is not to pursue your incompetent performance for now, but to prioritize resolving the current predicament."
Ross spread his hands and said coldly, "For the December Christmas season, we only have one film this year, far fewer than in previous years."
"Moreover, 'Miss Congeniality' only cost over 54 million US dollars to produce, far less than other well-made films, making its advantages very unclear."
"So, how can we restore Warner's glory in this Christmas season?"
"It's simple, win this fight!"
As his words fell.
The expressions of everyone present improved considerably.
"He's still the old leader!" a Warner executive whispered.
"Exactly!"
An executive echoed in a low voice, "Mr. Ross can understand us because he understands movies and knows movies, but these bastards from AOL, they only cause trouble."
However, the breath they had just released was caught in their throats.
The current chairman, Ross, insisted on cutting a group of incompetent people.
Undoubtedly, these so-called "incompetent people" were all veteran employees from the original Warner system.
In fact, this was a purge!
...More than an hour later, the meeting ended.
Chairman Steve Case left directly.
However, Steve Ross, as the former chairman, did not leave immediately but stayed to chat privately with Barry Meyer.
Bang!
"Bastard!"
"I shouldn't have agreed to the AOL acquisition in the first place!"
"A $181 billion acquisition? The largest acquisition in history? Now it seems like a joke!"
"Whether it's Warner Bros. Pictures, or the parent company Time Warner Inc., or even any subsidiary, everything is a mess now."
At this moment, where was the calm and gentle demeanor Steve Ross had before?
Violence, hostility, anger, suppression, regret... all kinds of negative emotions completely overwhelmed his mind.
"Sigh~"
President Barry Meyer sighed, "Yesterday I saw the news that Kyle Page, that guy, put down all his work to go shopping with his girlfriend Lima, and even unprofessionally opened a small store. However... we are not even as good as him now!"
Isn't that true!
During the Christmas season, Page Pictures is under a lot of pressure, but at least there is little internal struggle; even if there is, it is currently controlled within the set range, which is beneficial internal competition, not infighting... As the saying goes: good news doesn't go out, bad news travels a thousand miles.
Sure enough, not long after this meeting at Warner Bros. Pictures ended, the news spread throughout Hollywood.
Many people were overjoyed.
Kyle laughed, "This Christmas season, Warner is finished!"
Rupert Murdoch, owner of 20th Century Fox, said, "The world's largest media company is so vulnerable? Heh heh~"
Michael Eisner of Disney said, "Everyone says Disney has serious internal struggles and infighting, but now it seems Warner's problems are even more severe than ours! This is truly good news."
Universal Pictures said, "Warner will be inactive this Christmas season."
The Christmas season hadn't officially begun, and Warner, one of the Big Six, was already out of the game, and it was self-inflicted, which left all the large and small film companies in Hollywood astonished.