On the same Sunday, in Los Angeles.
Michael Ovitz watched James Raybould's 'Today Show' interview in its entirety during breakfast, and he naturally didn't believe James's ambiguous responses at all.
According to recent intelligence, Daenerys Entertainment is preparing to bid for MCA, which is already an undeniable fact.
He had originally planned to spend the weekend with his family, but due to The Hollywood Reporter's sudden exposure of Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition intentions yesterday and today's 'Today Show' interview, Ovitz had no choice but to continue working over the weekend.
From the second half of last year until now, CAA's team has been busy with the MCA acquisition for a full year.
If this acquisition fails, not only will the entire team's year of hard work go to waste, but it will also mean a loss of tens of millions of dollars in consulting fees, none of which Ovitz wants to see.
However, Ovitz also understood that the problem he now faced was very tricky.
During Panasonic's initial contact with Ovitz last year, they expressed willingness to offer a total transaction volume of approximately $9 billion for the acquisition of MCA, calculated based on a total share capital of nearly 100 million shares.
However, with the continuous deterioration of the Japanese economy over the past six months, Panasonic's attitude has become increasingly conservative. On the other hand, the outbreak of the Kuwait War caused a full-scale decline in the US stock market. By the close of trading last Friday, MCA's stock price had fallen to $36, making it even more impossible for Panasonic to offer $90 per share.
The current problem is that this acquisition must be accelerated, and at the same time, Panasonic must be urged to further increase its offer for MCA.
Before eight o'clock in the morning, Michael Ovitz arrived at CAA's headquarters in Century City. Members of the core team for the MCA acquisition had also arrived, along with Mikako Keiya, Panasonic's representative for this acquisition.
The meeting to discuss various countermeasures lasted for a whole morning. Ovitz also spoke with Akio Furui, President of Panasonic's Osaka headquarters, around noon.
Akio Furui had hoped to enter the US market ever since he became Panasonic's president in 1986, but he was suppressed by the conservative Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita and was unable to do so until last year.
However, to Ovitz's disappointment, Akio Furui did not accept his suggestion to raise the per-share offer to $75 to complete the transaction as soon as possible, nor did he abandon the acquisition due to Daenerys Entertainment's competition.
After a busy morning, the only thing confirmed was a new round of negotiations with MCA next Wednesday to further discuss acquisition details.
After lunch, after seeing off Mikako Keiya, the core members of the MCA acquisition team, Michael Ovitz, CAA CFO and co-founder Bob Goldman, and two other executives, Sandy Climan and Ray Kurtzman, returned to the morning's conference room.
Panasonic's wavering acquisition attitude made everyone somewhat worried.
Everyone gathered around the conference table. After the secretary delivered coffee and left, Bob Goldman suddenly said, "Many people in Hollywood probably don't want to see Daenerys Entertainment expand anymore".
Sandy Climan, who helped Ovitz establish CAA's corporate agency business, said, "So what? Do you think Warner, Fox, MGM, Columbia, and the others will jump out to oppose this acquisition now?"
This summer, Daenerys Entertainment's 'Sleeping With The Enemy' and 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle', from its 10-film plan, were both successful. Not only did Fox and Disney benefit from them, but companies like Warner, MGM, and Columbia also had close collaborations with Daenerys Entertainment.
Ray Kurtzman then said, "Paramount hasn't collaborated with Daenerys Entertainment, and with the failure of 'The Rocketeer' and 'Flight of the Intruder,' Martin Davis must be very dissatisfied with Westeros".
Sandy Climan said, "Paramount alone isn't enough".
Bob Goldman then added, "You've got one thing wrong. What can stop a studio from being merged doesn't necessarily have to be a company in the same industry. I mean, the three major Hollywood unions".
As Bob Goldman's words fell, the other three in the conference room instantly showed expressions of sudden realization.
Daenerys Entertainment had a disagreement with the Writers Guild of America two years ago due to the strike. Now, Simon Westeros is constantly suppressing star salaries through long-term contracts and strictly controlling film production costs in the budget. While these are beneficial for the studio's development, they clearly harm the interests of the Hollywood Writers Guild, Directors Guild, and Screen Actors Guild.
What's more, for two consecutive years, Daenerys Entertainment has occupied most of the top ten spots on the US box office charts. With such a market share, if it further merges with MCA, it clearly constitutes a suspicion of monopoly.
If the three major unions simultaneously file a lawsuit with the Department of Justice, coupled with the cooperation of Hollywood studios like Paramount, the possibility of stopping Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition should be very high.
"I remember now, Senator Peter Briggle's proposal from Texas last Wednesday", Ray Kurtzman quickly brought up another matter, and seeing the confused looks of the other three, he said, "I'll have someone collect some information for you later. In short, the White House probably doesn't have a good impression of Westeros right now, so the Department of Justice might not easily approve Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of MCA".
"And that thing with Dustin and the others last year."
"Matthew Broderick, do you remember that young man?"
"..."
"..."
The four discussed animatedly for more than ten minutes. Michael Ovitz quickly made a decision and said, "Bob, you're quite familiar with Martin Davis. Arrange to talk to him as soon as possible. Sandy and Ray, you two are responsible for contacting people in Washington. I will personally communicate with the three major unions and Dustin and the others".
With these decisions made, the four quickly began to act separately.
The weekend passed in a flash.
September 10th, Monday.
Following The Hollywood Reporter's exposure of Daenerys Entertainment's interest in acquiring MCA last Saturday, The Wall Street Journal also reported another development in the MCA acquisition on Monday, stating with certainty that Panasonic's acquisition team would hold formal negotiations with MCA this Wednesday.
After the news broke in The Wall Street Journal, Michael Ovitz immediately called Lew Wasserman at his home, accusing the other party of leaking information to the media and threatening to cancel Wednesday's agenda. Lou Wasserman vehemently denied Ovitz's accusations. After several arguments, Wednesday's meeting would proceed as usual.
However, after continuous media reports, the news that Daenerys Entertainment and Panasonic might bid for MCA was completely brought into the open.
On Monday morning, as soon as the North American stock market opened, MCA's stock price began to rise sharply.
After a day of trading, by the close of business in the afternoon, MCA's stock price had surged from $36.75 at opening to $41.25, an increase of 12%. By the close of trading on Wednesday, MCA's stock price had risen to $46.75, basically recovering to its level before the outbreak of the Kuwait War.
Due to the time difference between the East and West Coasts, when the senior executives of Panasonic and MCA concluded their Wednesday consultations at Universal Studios in Burbank, the East Coast stock market had already closed.
Moreover, things also showed signs of a sudden downturn.
MCA President Sid Sheinberg stated directly at the press conference after the talks that Panasonic's offer lacked sincerity, and that MCA's recent stock price was severely undervalued due to force majeure factors. If Panasonic refused to raise its offer, the transaction between the two parties could only be shelved.
At the same time, Sid Sheinberg also stated at the press conference that MCA is a very excellent company, and he very much looks forward to other companies being interested in it.
The purpose of these last words was obvious.
The media then continued to expose more specific details of the talks.
MCA Chairman Sid Sheinberg hoped for a price of $80 per share, but Panasonic was only willing to offer $60 per share. The huge gap between the two parties led to an unhappy end to the talks.
Due to the failure of these talks, MCA's stock growth significantly slowed down the next day.
Although it was clear that Panasonic would not give up the acquisition so easily, and MCA would not easily drive away Panasonic, a competitor who could push up its own stock price, many people still turned their attention to Daenerys Entertainment, looking forward to Simon's move.
Having avoided the intense media scrutiny during the first week after the Forbes rich list was released, Simon remained in New York this week.
When the news came that Panasonic and MCA's first public talks had reached a stalemate, Simon completely relaxed and patiently waited for the right moment. During this time, Janette personally helped him select and arrange one dinner, cocktail party, and party after another.
Having rapidly accumulated a huge fortune, it was impossible without a corresponding network of connections. Completely entrusting the management of one's network of connections to the executives of one's subordinate companies was not a wise move either.
Every time Simon went to Melbourne, the Johnston family would arrange similar activities for Simon to attend. Janette had completely inherited the family's vision and skills in building a network of connections. The woman could instinctively help Simon avoid many useless social engagements, without having to blindly grope around in various circles like many newly rich people.
To further confuse the media and the public, Simon also ostentatiously participated in a party hosted by Steve Ross at his East Hampton home on Long Island, New York.
Immediately afterwards, news appeared in the media that Daenerys Entertainment might seek a merger with Time Warner.
People in the industry knew that Steve Ross was a very power-hungry person, and Simon would also not let go of control of Daenerys Entertainment, so the possibility of the two companies merging was very low. However, in this world, there are always more people who don't know the truth.
After the relevant news appeared, Time Warner's stock price also began to rise.
Neither Daenerys Entertainment nor Time Warner clarified this. Simon was doing it to confuse the public, and Steve Ross also hoped that Time Warner would see some positive news, even if it was false, to alleviate some of the pressure on the Time Warner head.
After the Time Warner merger was completed with twists and turns at the beginning of this year, due to internal management struggles, external economic deterioration, and a significant increase in corporate debt, the synergistic effect of one plus one being greater than two, which everyone had hoped for before the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Bros., did not appear. Time Warner's stock price even fell all the way down.
As of now, Time Warner, a media giant with total assets of nearly $25 billion, has a market value of only over $8 billion, but its debt exceeds $10 billion. In comparison, before the merger, when Paramount Communications tried to hijack the acquisition, its offer for Time Inc. alone reached $10.7 billion.
In recent months, some media have already compared the Time Warner merger to the Reynolds Nabisco merger from the year before.
Frankly speaking, because the internal situation of Time Warner was too complex, even if Steve Ross was willing to sell the company, Simon would not easily take over.
After two tumultuous weeks, Simon left New York again on September 17th, flying to San Francisco on the West Coast.
Some time ago, using the leverage of maintaining Larry Ellison's control over Oracle, he once again secured a board seat for the company, and assigned it to Carol Bartz, who is responsible for the software business at Ygritte Company. Simon was not doing this without a purpose.
Database software has a very wide range of uses on Internet sites. Having Carol Bartz serve on Oracle's board can further strengthen the collaborative relationship between Oracle's database software and Ygritte Company's World Wide Web technology.
On the other hand, Oracle's upcoming layoffs will primarily focus on the software sales department. Coincidentally, Carol Bartz is currently building Ygritte's software sales network, and this time she can 'conveniently' poach a group of usable sales department employees from Oracle.
Although Oracle made significant mistakes in its sales strategy over the past two years, its rapid growth in performance is undeniable, and this is largely due to the efforts of Oracle's software sales team.
In addition, Carol Bartz was inspired by Simon's memorandum left at Ygritte Company regarding the concept of 'cloud computing' and hopes to transform Ygritte Company's software department into a one-stop Internet site technical support company based on World Wide Web technology, providing a complete set of hardware and software solutions for users who want to build websites, rather than just simply selling related software products.
Unlike in the original timeline, Ygritte Company at this time almost monopolized the technical patents related to the World Wide Web.
Although Simon tried his best to maintain an open licensing attitude, considering the explosive growth of websites based on World Wide Web technology in the coming years, just thinking about it, Simon realized how enormous the benefits would be if Carol Bartz's vision came true.
Moreover, this is definitely not something Ygritte alone can accomplish; it must combine all the new technology company resources under Westeros Company.
Of course, this plan cannot be achieved overnight.
Simon arrived in San Francisco not only to listen to Carol Bartz's business plan but also to mediate the dispute between Carol Bartz and Jeff Bezos once again.
Of the $50 million injected into Ygritte last time, Simon allocated the majority, $35 million, to the network department. Carol Bartz believed that her software department was the most important at this stage and should receive more funding. Therefore, after Simon left last time, she 'reasoned' with Jeff Bezos, wanting to split the funds equally.
Carol Bartz and Jeff Bezos both have very strong personalities. In the few months since they joined, they have even inadvertently marginalized CEO Tim Berners-Lee to the position of Chief Technology Officer.
Tim Berners-Lee has a tech-geek personality similar to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Realizing that he truly couldn't manage his two nominal subordinates, he very simply didn't participate in their dispute and only focused on his own World Wide Web technology project research and development work.