Hollywood Hunter

"3000, I think this is the best number of Besida chain stores in the United States. It is very unwise to pursue market share blindly. This will only make us waste our funds and energy in commercial areas with low returns. By continuously optimizing the planned 3,000 video chain stores, I hope Blockbuster will achieve a 50% local market share in the next three years."

The video tape industry in the United States has developed rapidly in recent years, and it is expected to exceed $10 billion in sales this year, which is equivalent to twice the local box office.

If Blockbuster can achieve a market share of 50%, it will be an industry giant with annual revenues of US$5 billion and a profit scale of about US$500 million, and the market value of a single unit can easily exceed US$10 billion.

Inside LOFT, Office 3 of Daenerys Studios.

Simon heard Nancy say this and said, "If your goal is really achieved, maybe I should buy out the remaining shares of BesTV now."

"I've calculated it," Nancy's slender fingers gestured on the table, saying: "BesTV's recent market value is about 3.2 billion US dollars. As the war on the Gulf side continues, it may fall to the next period. Less than 3 billion US dollars. In the case of a wholly-owned acquisition, the quotation can be controlled between 4.5 billion and 5 billion US dollars, and the actual cash we need to pay is about 3 billion US dollars."

Simon looked at Nancy's beautiful and delicate little hand, and smiled at the corner of his mouth, saying: "You know, I'm currently brewing a big acquisition plan."

Nancy felt Simon's gaze and gave him a blank look. He didn't mean to see the man's guilty conscience, and he didn't look away. He had to pick up the coffee cup beside him and took a sip, saying, "Two things No conflict, even if your own funds are insufficient, wouldn’t it be easy to borrow billions of dollars from the bank?"

The debt crisis that broke out at the end of last year has led major banks in North America to tighten their credit, and many companies have increased the difficulty of obtaining loans.However, high-quality borrowers such as Simon have become the most enthusiastic lending targets of major banks.

Even if Simon now wants to raise $10 billion, it will not be too difficult.

"That's right," Simon said. "It's just that I'm still thinking about other things outside the world. It's also a big plan that costs money, and the rate of return is higher than that of Blockbuster. So, this matter Only back."

When it comes to the acquisition of billions of dollars of funds, Nancy didn't expect Simon to agree to it all at once. Hearing Simon had other plans, he was curious: "What?"

Simon shook his head: "Can't tell you."

Nancy said dissatisfiedly: "Boss, don't you think I'm not trustworthy?"

"Of course it is worth it," Simon affirmed: "However, such things as trust actually need to be maintained. The most important point is, if it is not necessary, don't give others reasons that may damage this trust."

If Nancy realized: "Well, I won't ask."

"So, let's talk about overseas," Simon continued: "I find that BesTV's overseas expansion seems to be a bit slow. Video chains are different from movie theaters. There are very few government controls and trade barriers in overseas markets. , Overseas expansion should also be a very important item."

Compared with Blockbuster, the US mainland can break through the scale of 2,000 chain stores this year. Overseas, at this time, only the small-scale layout of the neighboring countries of the United States and the five countries of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and West were completed.Moreover, in addition to the synchronized pace of development in Canada and North America, the total number of chain stores in other markets is less than 200, and it is mainly concentrated in the core cities of London, Paris, and Berlin.

"The overseas chain stores are only for exploring the market for the time being. The previous market research and data analysis are very important. After completing these, as long as the funds are sufficient, the overseas expansion rate will not be worse than that of North America. In addition, I recently planned to put Blockbuster in All chain stores in the Boston-Washington metropolitan area on the east coast are connected to the Internet, and the membership system of Blockbuster has to be re-planned.

"It's fine if you know what you are," Simon nodded and urged: "Also, don't put everything on yourself, let it go to Wayne Huyzanga and James Frey. "

Although it is a very important shareholding company under Daenerys Entertainment, because of the presence of Nancy Brill, Wayne Huyzanga and others, Simon is very relieved of this company, except for some important financial And personnel changes, he is basically just asking about the specific operation of Blockbuster.

"I understand."

Nancy said, remembering something, beckoning her assistant who was waiting nearby, gave a few words, and turned to explain to Simon: "Speaking of BesTV's membership system, you can help to see what needs to be improved. There is also the "Dune" video game, which has already started internal testing and happens to give you a copy."

Seeing the small woman wanting to squeeze the boss blatantly, Simon said: "I'm going up and down hundreds of thousands in a minute. Don't trouble me with this kind of thing?"

The layout of real-time strategy games is a very important category from the era of single-player games in the 1990s to the era of online games in the new century. Many years later, phenomenal popular online games such as "World of Warcraft" and "League of Legends" are all Strategy games are inextricably linked.

Therefore, Simon has been following up the production of "Dune", after all, it is related to many future layouts.

As for Besida's membership system, he has no interest in discussion.

There are so many people in the company.

Nancy didn’t understand the tens of thousands of people in one minute and said, "Just let you see if there are any good ideas. Of course, we will do the details ourselves. I found that you can always produce novelties that break through the limitations of ordinary people’s thinking. Conceived, this talent is simply jealous."

"Is this a compliment? But, why didn't I feel it myself?"

Nancy said: "The DC movie universe is just such a plan. Do you know how amazing it is? As long as the two films next year are successful, this plan may be added to the case textbook by Harvard Business School."

Simon smiled: "Okay, it looks like I'm really good."

Nancy gave Simon another white look.

The assistant soon sent a folder and a copy of "Dune" floppy disk.

Simon put the game floppy disk aside, opened the document, and opposite Nancy said: "We temporarily intend to divide members into two levels of junior members and senior members, mainly to provide member discounts, extend the return period of video tapes, and reduce the penalty for breach of contract. The terms of the category, there are some monthly or annual ideas."

Instructing Nancy’s assistant to help him get another bottle of water, Simon lowered his head and began to look at the membership plan in front of him.

Nancy didn't waste time, flipped through another piece of information, noticed that her assistant sent a bottle of mineral water, and also casually found a topic, saying: "I saw you only drink water several times, why not Drink coffee?"

Simon didn't look up and said, "Jenny and I plan to have a baby, it's not good to drink coffee."

Nancy wondered: "Will coffee affect children?"

"It's a serious impact, so you need to pay attention in the future."

"I didn't plan to get married."

"Not marrying doesn't mean you can't have children."

"It's very troublesome to have a baby. If necessary, I plan to adopt one."

"The child was born better."

What Nancy thought, dissatisfied: "Macho."

Simon puzzled: "Is there a causal relationship between these two things?"

"Have!"

"Okay, I am macho."

Both of them calmed down, and after a while, Simon said: "I look very good with these plans, what is the specific effect, I think, Blockbuster can choose one or two state chain stores like the overseas pilot you just said. Try first, promote the whole country if feasible, cancel it if it is not feasible, and it will not affect the overall situation. In fact, the benefits of a large enough enterprise are here, and the fault tolerance rate is very strong, not just the membership system, as long as you have any good ideas, You can choose some areas to try."

Nancy turned his head to think about it and picked up his memo directly.

Simon smiled: "Don't be so serious, don't you think about it?"

"I thought of the first half of what you said, but not the second half," Nancy said, quickly writing a few words and looked up: "Is there any?"

"About value-added services for members," Simon said: "Have you ever rented a videotape to the Pepsi store?"

Nancy said: "Of course, every week."

"Do you feel trouble?"

"trouble?"

"Don't you think about it, can you deliver it to your door?"

Nancy thought for a moment and said: "The cost is too high. Selecting the source, remote booking, and logistics are all big problems."

"In the short term, you can use the telephone to book. As for logistics issues, try to cooperate with the postal system. The federal postal system is very developed. They should not mind one extra door. Sign a contract with the local postal system for the whole year. Pack the contract, and then, Blockbuster can get rid of the chain store chain, a city only needs a few large warehouse logistics centers."

Nancy's small face showed an inexplicable surprised expression, saying: "This is a kind of subversion. If we really do it, our existing chain store system will collapse."

Simon shrugged and said, "I can think of it, and others should be able to produce similar thoughts. BesTV either subverts itself or is subverted by others. Which one do you choose?"

Nancy frowned and continued to think for a moment, saying: "This kind of service involves too many complicated links, and it needs to develop to a sufficient volume to form a scale effect. It is impossible for a small video chain company to develop such a business. We ourselves don’t seem to have to do this. The distribution of Bestview’s chain stores is carefully selected and continues to be optimized to maximize the convenience of users. They often go to the storefront to select video tapes on the way to work. No remote mailing is required. By the way, you just said that in the short term, are there any long-term ideas?"

Simon felt the negation in Nancy's tone and was not surprised.

Similar to Netflix's business model, it is really not easy to implement in this era when it can only be booked by phone, and even in the Internet era, for the sake of maintaining its own chain store system, Blockbuster will instinctively resist this. Business model.

"Long-term, if Internet users develop to a sufficient scale, Blockbuster can build its own online website, and users can search for predetermined video tapes through the website themselves, just like the library e-book retrieval system, which can solve the source selection and The problem of remote booking is more secure and more convenient. The video tape is obtained through the postal system. After reading it, the user only needs to cram the video tape into a special BesTV package and mail it back without leaving the house."

"If I remember correctly, the number of AOL users this month should only be able to reach 150,000. How many years do you think it will take to reach a sufficient number of users?"

"It took only 10 years for the proportion of American households to own video recorders to grow from 2% to 70%. I believe that the Internet has reached such a popularity level, and it will only take ten years at most.

"The idea of ​​developing a business through the Internet is very good, but even if your prediction can come true, you need to wait at least another five years. 2% of the home video recorder penetration rate can not develop a BesTV." Nancy said , Suddenly turned the conversation, staring at Simon without blinking and asked: "Boss, I am very curious, how did you come up with these advanced ideas?"

Simon is not the first time to encounter this kind of problem. Janet used to look at her small eyes before it was lethal, so she calmly said: "This idea just now was told to me by a guy named Reed."

"Reed?"

"Yeah," Simon nodded and lifted his chin toward the empty seat next to Nancy, changing a faint, weird tone: "He's sitting next to you."

Nancy turned to look at the air next to her, and said in a disgruntled tone: "Hey, Reed, would you please sit opposite? I hate men."

The little woman cooperated with Simon to make a cold joke, but neither of them laughed, but caused Jennifer Rebold and Shirley Lansing who happened to be walking together to be confused, even producing a hairy feeling.

What's the situation?

Seeing Jennifer and Lansing, Nancy put out her tongue and greeted the two women and explained: "It's just a joke." He said that he got up and pointed to the "Dune" game floppy disk at Simon's hand. Busy, this, remember to send me an email after the trial."

When Nancy left, Jennifer said to Simon who got up: "Ms. Lansing has been waiting for you for a while, and I will bring her here."

Simon looked at his watch.

It is scheduled to meet Shirley Lansing at 2:30 in the afternoon to discuss the cooperation between Daenerys and MGM.It's still a little bit early for the meeting on Marvel. I didn't rush back to the administrative area. I didn't expect to chat with Nancy. It was three o'clock unconsciously.

Sorry, I just sat down here. Simon asked Lansing: "Have you seen the script of "Few Good People"?"

These days, Johnston Holdings of Australia has started to take over the seventh television network under the name of Qintex Group, and the cooperation between Daenerys Entertainment and MGM has also been advancing.

In Simon’s view, the most critical issue facing MGM is not to be sold like it was in the 1980s, as long as a stable development environment is given, in the context of the global expansion of Hollywood in the 1990s, It is not difficult to restore vitality.

No matter how bad it is, after a few years of patience, Australia can re-sell this company at a very good price.

As for the two films planned for cooperation, Simon MGM proposed several projects that Simon was not satisfied with. Finally, he took out a copyright that had just been bought from Daenerys, "Few Good People".