"From the current situation, it is impossible for other buyers to take over our film company in the short term," Izumi Nobuyuki shook his head and rejected Howard Stirlinger's proposal, saying: "What's more, if you do this, the conflict between Sony and Firefly will be completely irreconcilable."

Howard Stringer fell silent.

During this period, a series of counterattacks from the Firefly system made Howard Stringer completely realize the other party's strength.

Not only is the media business powerless to fight back in front of Firefly, but in the group's fundamental electronics industry, although Sony itself has a very strong technical accumulation, the Firefly System companies have shown a suppression attitude towards Sony in both the field of portable music players that it urgently needs to consolidate and the mobile phone manufacturing field that has been striving to expand.

In addition, although Firefly Group only makes a noise to ban Sony Pictures' videos in marketing channels, Sony Group's electronic products are inseparable from a large number of advertising investments if they want to be well promoted in North America. The Firefly system has just mastered nearly half of the TV network media resources in North America, which is also something Sony needs to worry about and fear. After all, no multinational group can ignore the huge market in North America.

Thinking of the last time I received the call from Eric Williams, I felt that the other party was too young and frivolous and overestimated my ability, Howard Stringer felt a burst of self-deprecating and regretful.

If time could go back, he would never offend Eric Williams for a mere script.

Now, in order to avoid the overall deterioration of the relationship between the two parties, it is almost inevitable that Sony will compromise with Fireflies. After a week of discussion, Sony's board of directors has basically made the decision to give up the film business. But there is definitely someone to bear the responsibility for this matter. There is no doubt about who this person is.

Noting Howard Stringer's depressed expression, Nobuyuki Izumi sighed.

Because both parties have very consistent corporate management philosophy, he has always admired Howard Stringer very much, and even hoped that the other party could become his successor in the future.

However, there is definitely no way to talk about this matter now.

After pondering for a while, Nobuyuki Izumi still said to the assistant who was waiting for the orders beside him: "Tell Eric Williams, let me set it to be at noon on Saturday. I'll treat him to dinner in Los Angeles. You guys prepare in advance there."

...

The time is September, the summer season has begun to end, and the TV series is in autumn.

At the same time, the major studios have confirmed that the videos that have been scheduled for the end of the year have basically been completed in this period of time, and will start a publicity offensive one after another.

Early on Saturday morning, Eric, Katzenberg and other senior executives of Firefly Group gathered in a screening room at Firefly Cinema to watch the film "Teddy Bear".

This 3D animation and live-action film, which uses motion capture technology, has been confirmed to be the Thanksgiving schedule at the end of the year, and will be released on November 13, a week ahead of MGM's "Mission Impossible 3".

As a plush toy with a long history, the teddy bear appeared more than a hundred years ago. In other words, even the senior executives in their forties and fifties who were present at the scene may have a childhood memory of the teddy bear. Therefore, although they have read the script, when people watch a certain fluffy bear unscrupulously lose their moral integrity through the big screen, they will inevitably feel various destructive feelings.

The ninety-minute video was played and the lights were on. Several other senior executives in the screening room except Eric all had strange expressions on their faces. They obviously still held back their smiles, but they felt that this kind of occasion was not suitable for being too presumptuous.

Eric is very satisfied with the film. Compared with the original version, he made some adjustments to some too local details of the script, which can make it more friendly to overseas audiences.

Relaxed with his legs raised, Eric looked at the other people in the screening hall and smiled, "So, what do you think?"

Everyone didn't speak for a while.

Finally, Robert Thompson, president of the Firefly Distribution Department, which is in charge of Bowei International Distribution Group, said first: "Eric, isn't this movie a little too large?"

"R-level is not a problem, right?" Eric asked with a smile, and said, "And, the theme of this video is generally positive."

“I mean,” Robert Thompson said: “For the image of the teddy bear, it seems that the damage is too serious and the audience may not accept it. After all, this is a very popular plush toy after all.”

Eric said: "Bob, you probably want to say that the film may have adverse effects on children, but in fact, the audience of this film is not children, but adults. So, as long as the content and positioning of the film are clearly explained in the publicity stage, we don't need to consider this issue. As for some of the criticisms that may be faced, to be fair, this can just increase the topic of the film."

On the other hand, Frank Wells nodded slightly, but immediately added: "Eric, we must not let this video connect with the Disney brand."

Eric agreed: "This is for sure."

Everyone discussed it carefully and roughly determined a distribution plan. Everyone left the screening hall one after another. Today was the weekend, and most of them went home to rest directly.

Eric and Carsonberg finally left the screening room, left the office building together, and walked side by side on the concrete corridor covered with green trees in the park.

After casually talking about some of the company's recent affairs, Eric said: "Jeffrey, I have made an appointment with Nobuyuki Irii for lunch, and I will probably get Columbia Film Company this time. However, my idea is that this acquisition will be funded separately by Firefly Investment, and Columbia Film Company will maintain its own operating strategy in the future."

Katzenberg's expression flashed a little disappointed when he heard this, but this was actually as expected. The Firefly Group itself is already huge enough. If Columbia Film Company is integrated into the group's system, it will definitely require related business integration. Doing so will only lose the energy that Columbia Film Company has left, and even become an optional part of the Firefly Group.

By remaining independent, Columbia Films will be able to continue to maintain its position as one of Hollywood's seven film companies and have the opportunity to rise again like MGM.

"This is actually not bad. If we add another Colombia, it will definitely become bloated. Maintaining independent operation will allow the Firefly system to gain more market share."

"It's good that you can understand," Eric nodded with a smile.

Although he relies heavily on Kasenberg, he will not let his senior executives be too concentrated, which will be of no benefit to both sides.

The two chatted and went to the office park area in the digital field. Although it was a weekend, there were still many employees working overtime in the office LOFT in the digital field.

After staying in the office in the digital field for about an hour, I checked some of the special effects progress of "Iron Man" and saw that the time was about the same, Eric said goodbye to Carsonberg, left Firefly Cinema, and rushed to Culver City by car.

Half an hour later, outside a high-end restaurant in Culver City.

Although I was very angry, when Howard Stringer saw Eric get out of the car, he forced a smile and quickly came forward: "Eric, good noon."

"Hello, Howard," Eric politely shook hands with the other party, looked at Bill Michanik beside Howard Stringer, and took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, Bill."

Bill Michanik's tone was a little respectful, and he reached out to hold Eric and said, "Hello, Mr. Williams."

After saying hello to Eric, Howard Stringer and others said, "Let's go in, I'm waiting for you."

Eric didn't care about Nobuyuki's pretending behavior, and walked into the restaurant with Howard Stringer and the others.

When I walked into a private room in the restaurant, I naturally had a polite greeting.

Eric originally hoped that Chris would come here today, but the American Online stock distribution plan under Morgan Stanley's responsibility has reached a critical moment.

Next Monday, 15% of the US Online stocks sold by Firefly to Morgan Stanley will officially start sales. Although this batch of stocks has been basically subscribed before this, Chris still has many detailed work to negotiate with Morgan Stanley this weekend, so he has no way to come to Los Angeles.

After ordering lunch, I sent the waiter away, and only Eric and the four of them were left in the private room.

Nobuyuki Izumi just ordered the waiter to serve the food later. When the other party left, he said straight to the point: "Eric, Sony is willing to transfer the film company in his hand, but the offer you will definitely not work. According to Sony Pictures' current market value, Fireflies will need to pay at least $5 billion, and you must also bear Sony Pictures' existing debts."

Eric smiled, not responding to the topic of Shinyuki Yui, but instead changed his subject and said, "Signaki Yui, if the news I got is correct, Sony should be launching a purely digital MD player soon, right?"

Nobuyuki Izumi was stunned for a moment and nodded truthfully. Since Eric said it at this time, there was no need to hide it anymore.

Since the release of the Fireflyer generation, Sony has actually started the research and development of digital music players. With Sony's technical strength, it does not take even half a year to develop a digital music player.

At this time, Fireflyer's second-generation Fireflyer player global monthly shipments remained steadily above 2 million units, and the shipments last month had even exceeded 2.5 million units. Although the five major record companies have been trying to curb the spread of digital pirated music in recent months, everyone knows that music digitalization has become an inevitable trend.

Therefore, Sony has decided to release its own digital music player as soon as possible, which is what Eric calls an MD player. This player originally used a mini disk playback carrier. Because it also specializes in the micro player market, Sony did not intend to enable a new name, but instead let its own digital music player continue to be named.

Compared with Fireflyer Electronics' Fireflyer player, Sony's MD will adopt its unique ATRAC audio format, which not only has very strict anti-piracy restrictions, but is also exclusive to Sony Pictures.

After obtaining confirmation from Nobuyuki Izumi, Eric still smiled on his face and continued: "Izumi, you must know that Firefly Electronics has applied for a complete set of digital music players related patents a long time ago. Although your MD will use Sony's unique audio format, this can avoid some of Firefly Electronic's patents in audio decoding. But in other aspects, such as system control chips, microhard disk storage technology, software operating systems, etc., Sony wants to bypass Firefly Electronics' patent barriers to realize the functions of digital music players. As long as Firefly Electronics is willing, through patent litigation, we can completely prevent MD from entering the North American and even European markets."

Before Shinoyuki Izumi could speak, Howard Stringer couldn't help but say, "Eric, you are monopolistic, this is illegal."

Eric directly ignored Howard Stringer's words and kept staring at Nobuyuki Izumi.

Nobuyuki Izumi was obviously much calmer than Howard Stringer, and said, "Eric, since you mentioned these, does it mean that Fireflies are willing to authorize this part of the patent to Sony?"

Eric leaned against the chair behind him, nodded slightly, and said, "As long as Sony can drive enough to increase the price, of course."

Howard Stringer, who had an angry expression just now, heard Eric's words and immediately showed an expression on his face that he thought he had heard it wrong. Firefly Electronics was actually willing to transfer the patent for a digital music player?

Nobuyuki Izumi's eyes began to wander a little.

It has been more than a year since Firefly Electronics released the Fireflyer player last year. As an electronic product with a low technical content, if it were not for the strict patent technology restrictions, facing such a rapidly developing MP3 player market, major electronic manufacturers would have been eager to launch their own products.

However, because the Firefly system firmly grasps the complete set of technical patents for MP3 players, no other company except Nokia has obtained authorization, so the current Fireflyer player is almost exclusive to the market.

Sony's MD digital player is indeed as Eric said, and cannot avoid the patent barriers of Firefly Electronics at all.

Originally, Sony was even ready to sue Firefly Electronics, just like the dispute between Apple and Samsung on mobile phones in the original time and space. Although Samsung's phone was barely banned by the US market in the end, in fact, before Samsung, the earlier HTC Android phones were completely banned outside the US market because of infringing on Apple's smartphone patents.

Therefore, Sony is actually very likely to lose the lawsuit against Firefly Electronics.
Chapter completed!