Chapter 146 Conspiracy

Paladin Media Group, Los Angeles.

As the company grows bigger.

Management companies, record companies, film companies, television production companies, etc. are all crowded together.

The 11-story office building that Wendy originally rented, facing the Hollywood sign in Beverly Hills, was gradually becoming inadequate.

So Milo asked someone to rent the building next door as well.

For the time being, the current size of the group company is sufficient.

But if the TV station’s headquarters is moved here in the future.

Then maybe we need two more small buildings like this to make them sufficient for use.

May 12th.

Milo, who returned to Los Angeles from San Francisco last night, was currently holding a meeting in the large conference room on the tenth floor of the group's headquarters.

Ted Turner, the billionaire president of TBS, was presiding over the meeting.

“…TBS’s weakness is entertainment, but its strength is news reporting!”

"So we need to make changes to increase our viewership, such as..."

“…”

TBS has been successfully acquired by Milo.

Just as Shabotet thought.

Time Warner eventually agreed to sell its stake in Turner Broadcasting to Milo.

However, they did not sell all of it, but only sold 10% to Milo, allowing him to achieve a controlling stake of 51%.

Time Warner itself retains a 15% stake.

However, Time Warner wanted $1 billion for this 10% stake, and also signed a two-film cooperation contract with Paladin Films.

The asking price is very high, even outrageously high.

But Time Warner knew that Milo would definitely buy it.

Because whether or not Milo has this 10% stake means whether he can control the company.

This is indeed the case, and it's a bit disgusting.

But Milo admitted it anyway.

But... How long did Time Warner think they could be happy? Milo was a stingy person, and he would not wait until the next day to take revenge.

So, Milo, sitting in the main seat, watched Ted Turner hold a meeting with the management of TBS and CNN without saying a word.

He was thinking about other things.

Now that Turner Broadcasting Group is in our hands.

Milo then gave Shabotet two new targets: Marvel Comics and HBO Television Network.

Needless to say, Marvel Comics, after entering the 21st century when CG technology matured, their superheroes dominated most of the screens and thus made huge profits.

What’s even more wonderful is that Marvel Comics officially filed for bankruptcy not long ago.

That's right, the company that owns a large number of superhero IP copyrights went bankrupt.

Milo couldn't think of a reason not to acquire it.

Look at Time Warner, after it acquired DC Comics in the late 1960s.

How much good did Superman and Batman do for them.

Since we know its prospects, why don’t we act now? Do we have to wait until Marvel Comics is acquired by others before taking action?

As for HBO, it's different from other TV networks.

HBO is a cable television network that makes its money from fees rather than advertising.

It is the largest pay cable network in the United States and one of the few television networks that focuses on original TV series.

Although the dramas they produce are inseparable from sex, violence, and darkness, the quality is always guaranteed. "Band of Brothers" is one of their productions.

Likewise, HBO has yet to produce those classic series, so now is a good time to acquire them.

But...if he wants to acquire HBO, he will have to compete with Time Warner again.

Because Time Warner is also trying to acquire HBO, but HBO's shareholders are asking for too high a price.

So Time Warner's senior management and board of directors are still hesitating.

But Milo knew very well that once he joined, Time Warner would definitely speed up its pace.

By then, there is a high probability that they will acquire HBO because Time Warner has already lost Turner Broadcasting Group once.

If HBO is lost again, even the stock price may be affected.

If the difficulty is too high and HBO's shareholders ask for too high a price, Milo doesn't necessarily want HBO.

Because the most valuable thing about HBO is its classic dramas.

And these things just happened to not be a big problem for Milo.

All Milo wanted was to add an extra cable TV territory to his television empire in addition to the wireless broadcasting network.

Without HBO, smaller cable TV stations such as AMC and A&E can also help achieve the goal of completing the television landscape.

Okay, let’s get back to what’s going on.

Milo reached for the folder next to the itinerary, took it in front of him and opened it.

Because the founder, Ted Turner, was an insider.

In terms of the integration of Turner Broadcasting, Milo doesn't have to do anything in the short term.

Of course, we still have to intervene in the long run.

After all, he is the real boss of TBS now.

Ted Turner was merely acting as his manager.

But, it’s time for me to come up with something.

It can not only disgust Time Warner, but also squeeze other shareholders.

At the same time, it can also make TBS's position more stable and increase ratings.

“Simply put, the most attractive thing about this program is that anyone can have the opportunity to participate in it and win generous rewards in the end.”

In the conference room of Paladin Media, Milo sat in the main seat.

Ted Turner, who presided over the meeting, was to his right.

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands and placed them on the table while watching the TBS executives flipping through the folders in front of him.

TBS is headquartered in Atlanta.

But this time, Milo specifically asked the executives to come to Los Angeles for the meeting.

The reason is that he is temporarily unable to get away due to something else.

Of course, this is just a foreshadowing of Milo's plan to move TBS to Los Angeles or New York in the future.

If that doesn't work, Boston is fine.

After all, these places are his territories.

"Tell me what you think, ladies and gentlemen," Milo said.

“Everyone can sign up to participate, so it can attract a lot of attention from the beginning.”

An executive immediately spoke up, and from his thoughtful expression, it was known that he agreed with the idea of ​​this program.

"Indeed, and the process is not too difficult. It gives me the feeling that I can do it too."

Another female executive spoke up, “If more people participate, more people will watch.”

"The audience will put themselves in the shoes of the participants and naturally choose to support someone they like. If this person wins in the end, it may attract more audience participation, and the situation will snowball."

“Also, the rewards may seem generous, but if you can really get high ratings, they are nothing compared to the advertising fees.”

With the words of the two previous executives as an introduction.

Others also started discussing, and the meeting room suddenly became much more lively.

As for Milo, he smiled at Ted Turner and slowly drank the pure water in front of him.

"Mr. Blackburn, I have a question about..."

A middle-aged man raised his hand and asked, thinking of something, but was interrupted by Milo before he could finish his words: "I think you may have made a mistake, sir..."

Ted Turner knew that Milo didn't know him, so the old man whispered, "Punk Jones, the director of the newly formed variety show department."

Yes, it was just established.

TBS didn't even have a variety show department before it was fed up with Milo.

Because it is actually a big news station, it just wants to transform now.

"Mr. Jones, I am only responsible for providing the concept, copyright, creativity, and some basic information about the concept. The specifics must be completed by you personally."

The middle-aged man Jones' face suddenly turned red and he withdrew his hand awkwardly.

He apparently just then remembered that the person who came up with this idea was the chairman of Paladin Media and their boss.

"Of course, I don't mean to make any accusations, Mr. Jones,"

Milo continued, "What I want to say is that an excellent variety show that can attract audiences cannot be achieved by outstanding creativity and ideas alone. It also requires everyone's efforts and cooperation. I hope you can unite and turn this idea called "Millionaire" into a perfect show."

Yes, the idea that Milo came up with was the TV show where one could win one million dollars by answering a few questions.

Not long after “creating” American Idol.

After knowing the value of these variety shows.

Milo immediately registered the copyrights of many popular variety show ideas all over the world in advance.

He is not afraid of others stealing his property. The worst that can happen is a lawsuit.

He is an American, and Americans have advantages wherever they file lawsuits.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

And once a lawsuit is filed, what the other party has to pay is not just simple copyright fees.

The only countries that are not afraid of him suing may be those small red countries and China.

Even Lucia can't do that. Lucia is now licking America from top to bottom.

He doesn't care if the little red country wants to pirate his products.

Because they don't have much money and their market is too small.

China... that's a problem.

But now, China has been applying to join the WTO.

Before this, if any of them dared to use Milo's copyright without paying, the Chinese authorities would naturally pay for Milo.

How to Be a Millionaire is one of them.

So, when British director David Briggs excitedly took out a similar variety show that he had been conceiving for more than a year but had not yet been perfected, and prepared to register the copyright.

David Briggs was surprised to find that the variety show he had spent more than a year on without telling anyone had already been registered in advance! And it was only one month earlier than him!

The only person who knew about this was David Briggs.

He kept all those literary documents in a safe in his home.

There were no signs of the safe being stolen, which frustrated David Briggs.

But this had nothing to do with Milo. The blame lay with David Briggs for not coming up with the idea and registering it right away.

It’s just like Wan Yan who invented VCD back then, he was so excited to start production without even registering the international copyright.

As a result, it wasn't long before VCD players were being produced all over the world.

Soon, the Americans and the Japanese developed DVD based on VCD, destroying the VCD market in one fell swoop.

Back to the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire".

In a parallel universe, this program was first broadcast by the British Independent Television——

It’s an independent TV station again, and American Idol is also on an independent TV station.

ABC was able to maintain its status quo after 2000 thanks to the introduction of this program from the UK.

You can imagine how popular this show was when it was broadcast.

However, because of this, the overwhelmed ABC executives began to squeeze the profits brought by "How to Be a Millionaire" to the greatest extent possible.

So after two or three years, the life of this program came to an end.

Milo, who was very clear about this, naturally would not make the same mistake.

While the show's life span won't be extended for long, don't forget that he has many, many other copyrighted "creativity".

There was a burst of applause in the conference room.

Because of what Milo said before, whether it was out of sincerity or to please him, at least they now think that this show is valuable.

Consider also the ratings and profits that Milo had created with his previous collaboration with Fox on "American Idol".

This is even more convincing.

"So……"

Milo smiled and began to speak out, "Such a great variety show idea, I want to sell it to Turner Broadcasting for $200 million. No one should have any doubts, right?"

When this was said, everyone, including Ted Turner, was shocked.

The top executives of Turner Broadcasting Corporation were immediately surprised.

Ted Turner couldn't help but stare at Milo.

Because Milo had not informed him of this matter in advance.

Milo smiled and thought that this was a trick I was using to disgust Time Warner and pressure other shareholders.

How could I possibly ventilate with you in advance?

Do we have to let the shareholders know and collude in advance?

"You don't think my ideas are worthless, do you? Also, I only own 51% of Turner Broadcasting. This company is not entirely mine. The ideas and copyrights are mine, so if Turner Broadcasting wants them, of course they can only buy them from me. Of course, it can be a friendly price, so it's $200 million."

Milo looked at everyone leisurely and said, "You all should know about American Idol, right? Let me tell you some internal data. So far, this variety show has generated a total of $300 million in revenue for Fox TV."

"Fox is even preparing for the second season next year, and the first season hasn't even officially ended yet."

"The future ratings of How to Be a Millionaire will definitely not be much worse than those of American Idol."

"And because I'm a shareholder of Turner Broadcasting, I can sell the rights to the company."

"This is different from the contract with Fox where I have the right to stop working at any time. So the price is of course different."

"Two hundred million dollars."

Milo held up two fingers in a Y shape. "This show will belong to Turner Broadcasting from now on."

Looking at the executives of Turner Broadcasting Corporation who had all fallen silent because of what he had said.

Milo laughed inwardly again.

This is the trick he used to disgust Time Warner and force other shareholders to sparsely hold their shares.

Continue to produce high-quality variety shows and TV series and sell them to Turner Broadcasting.

Turner Broadcasting has little money in its account right now.

If you want to buy it, all shareholders must invest.

A variety show costs $200 million, and a high-quality TV series costs $100 million or $200 million.

There are several rounds every year. If shareholders don't want their shareholding to decrease, they can pay money.

If they don’t pay, their shares will get smaller and smaller, and their say will get lower and lower.

Although these shares will become more and more valuable.

Pay money?

As long as Milo can control 51% of the shares, he can completely insist on not paying dividends for a long time.

Every year, all the money earned by Turner Broadcasting is used for development.

Turner Broadcasting has been suffering losses for a long time and has not paid dividends, so shareholders have not received any money.

But shareholders can't say anything yet as long as Turner Broadcasting's value continues to rise.

This is an open conspiracy.

Either other shareholders have to compete with Milo, but do they have more money, or does Milo have more creative ideas and high-quality TV series?

You said shareholders could ask Turner Broadcasting not to purchase the rights and TV series of Milo.

Not to mention that Milo holds 51% of the shares, he can force the purchase.

Just look at how popular Milo’s current variety show copyright is.

With the success of "American Idol", Fox TV could have made a lot of money for several years.

It is totally unacceptable that Turner Broadcasting Company does not want such a high-quality variety show.

Unless the ratings of Milo's TV series and variety shows flop.

Then other shareholders can find an excuse to ask Milo to stop this behavior.

But is that possible? Shareholders think it is possible, but no one believes that someone can never fail.

Only Milo himself believed that he would never fail.

This is actually a form of business warfare, used to compete for the right to speak and control over the company.

It is the second unpretentious method besides physical annihilation.

(End of this chapter)