Chapter 201 200. Billion Dollar Baby, It's Time to Divide the Pork

Taylor Swift is undoubtedly the best female singer since the millennium, or to be more absolute, she is also fully qualified to be the best singer.

Because her shelf life was too long, she was still at the peak of her powers before Eric traveled through time, and she was comparable to the stars of the same era who competed with her.

For example, Britney Spears, Teardrop Gaga, Justin Bieber, etc., all of them have gradually lost popularity, or occasionally made some shocking moves to the world, but then disappeared.

Only Taylor Swift is always new and is always on the road of innovating and surpassing herself.

Her singing skills and style were not perfect in the first few years of her debut. Although she was popular at that time, she was still some distance away from reaching the top.

Especially when she was trying to enter the most authoritative B chart, she would often come across various divine songs that came from the sky, and then be suppressed. She was a bit unlucky, so her fans gave her the nickname Taylor Swift.

Of course, this nickname also means to praise her as a beauty, with "美" replaced by "蜜".

And she is also the person who opened the door to the era of digital payment for songs. The prerequisite for this is that someone is willing to pay for your songs, which shows her appeal.

It ranks among the top in terms of fans, MV and song plays on major social media and video sites.

The key is that she has always been focused on making music. Unlike some artists and singers, who use their fame to build a brand, sell cosmetics and other goods after becoming popular, I have already surpassed your business empire with the income from concerts and albums.

Although she has a dozen ex-boyfriends, it does not affect the number of her male fans at all, because her songs are suitable for all ages, and she has many fans, from people in their sixties and seventies to children.

A global concert can drive more than 10 billion US dollars in direct consumption, and indirect consumption reaches hundreds of billions of dollars. Therefore, leaders or senior officials of countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Britain, and Indonesia have invited her to hold concerts.

If MJ was the undisputed world's No. 1 superstar in the 80s and 90s, then Taylor Swift is the undoubted super overlord after 2010. Her emergence has put global music into a situation of one super and many strong.

In the film world, the world’s last superstar is Leonardo DiCaprio, and in the music world, it’s Taylor Swift.

As for whether the next world-class superstar will emerge, it is probably difficult.

At most, it can have influence in its own country and its surrounding areas, but it is almost impossible to radiate to the whole world.

"How's this little girl's singing skill?" Eric asked, pointing at the photo of a young Taylor Swift.

Maikou took a look and said: "Not bad, she is a rural student. She is not the top student in this group, but she is above average."

"The main reason is that she is still young. At 14, her body and voice are not fully developed. Some people will be amazed by her young age, while others will be limited by it."

"The contestants in front of you didn't see that you were serious. Do you think this little girl has a future?"

Eric nodded, thinking that she had a bright future and was a walking money-printing machine.

"Very good, I like her name, Taylor, Taylor, tiger, tiger, strong girl, hahahaha."

Maikou laughed out loud at the homonym and then waved his hands.

"No, no, no, Swift doesn't look tough at all. She is a lovely girl. When I first saw the photo, I felt like a farm girl who walked out of a remote village."

"After listening to her song demos, a set of images emerged in my mind."

"I usually sleep on the grass, or hold a wooden guitar, occasionally hold a dogtail grass in my mouth, and hum the songs I wrote."

Eric took a closer look at Taylor Swift's photo and felt that it did look a bit rustic and unsophisticated, with her facial features not as three-dimensional as those in later generations.

She must have had plastic surgery, at least her eyes, nose and mouth were opened, but it’s nothing, they are all minor plastic surgeries, which celebrity doesn’t do it?

When Jackie Chan was young, he had his eyes opened. As long as he was successful, he would be popular.

"In any case, we must sign Taylor Swift. I have a feeling that she will become a world-class singer in the future."

"Eric, you think so highly of her?"

"Well, my hunches are always accurate. No matter what place she gets in The Voice, we must sign her."

"I'll listen to you, but there's a little problem at the moment. Taylor Swift is currently signed to RCA Records. If you want to sign her, you need to get her consent, as well as her parents' consent, and pay a penalty."

"But the price is not high. After all, she is just a newcomer and nobody knows about it. Maybe it is tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"Then find a way to convince this little girl. It's not enough for Meiyi to have only you as an artist. We need more."

Eric continued to look through the resumes, and soon another familiar name came into view - Katie Hudson.

Many people may not recognize this name because she later changed her name to Katy Perry, also known as Katy Perry to the public.

Although her achievements are not as great as Taylor Swift, she is also a first-class female singer and was once very popular.

"This girl is not bad either, from Santa Barbara. She is actually from Santa Barbara."

Michael nodded. "Don't be surprised. She's famous in the local area. She's a popular local singer. Even I've heard of her. If you go to the bar, you might run into Katie Hudson on stage."

“Does she have a contract with a company now?”

"No."

"It's signed. I have a feeling this girl will become popular too."

Michael couldn't help but frowned and asked hesitantly, "Eric, are you looking for a singer or a lover?"

"Ah? What?"

"Why are you only interested in women? These guys are not bad, like this Xilin, his rap is very stylish and sounds great."

“And this, he has a really good voice.”

Eric curled his lips helplessly and thought, what can I do? The others don’t know him.

This is still a very famous singer. If it were an ordinary singer who was only popular in the United States, he would not recognize him even if he was in front of him.

I continued to flip through the pages until the last one, and there appeared a third acquaintance, finally a young man.

It is obvious from the photo that she is of mixed race, with brown skin and a pair of big, bright eyes.

The name column reads Peter Keen Hernandez, a name that many people must have never heard of because he later changed his name.

Bruno Mars, nicknamed Brother Mars, is a future popular male singer and a frequent guest at the Grammy Awards.

An extremely sexy song "Uptown Funk", coupled with the magical MV dance, made him a global celebrity.

One sentence can illustrate his strength: The old immortal from Mars, with boundless magical powers.

"Michael, I'm not looking for a lover. This young man is pretty good too. Is he Hawaiian?"

"Born in Hawaii, currently living in New York, more into hip-hop and rock, not signed to any label."

"Very good, then we'll take it too. I feel like this kid will become a big star too."

"Well, you signed it when you said so. At least it proves that you are not choosing a concubine for yourself."

Unexpectedly, after Billy had been out for a few months, he actually found a few rising stars. It turned out that he had the same lucky physique as Judy.

Friday afternoon, before leaving get off work.

A meeting was being held in the MGM building. Apart from the Coopers, the rest of the attendees were company executives.

Everyone's attention was focused on the father and son, and there was a hint of excitement in their eyes.

They had thought this day would come, but they never thought it would come so soon.

At the beginning, many people chose to join the team because of Charlie Cooper's reputation. Unexpectedly, just over half a year after joining, Charlie Cooper showed signs of retirement and began to hand over all power of the company to his son.

Even if many people don't say it, they are worried in their hearts, fearing that the recovering MGM will collapse.

Until recent months, movies such as "Happy Death Day" and "Don't Breathe" have been successful one after another, raking in a lot of box office revenue with small investments.

Then there is the release of "Transformers", which has grossed over 700 million worldwide.

In any industry, strength speaks. Everything proves that Eric Cooper is an extremely wise leader and his decisions have almost never failed.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Now, everyone wholeheartedly follows his leadership, hoping that he can lead everyone to a brighter future.

Today is the time to witness the results of more than a year’s hard work, which is referred to as the pork distribution meeting.

Eric looked at Charlie Cooper and said, "Say something, Dad."

Although he is no longer involved in the business, my dad's current position is still president.

He nodded slightly, and first let out a long sigh, as if he wanted to completely let out the accumulation of years.

After sitting in this position for so many years, I have finally achieved my wish and witnessed the day when MGM rises.

Although it was not me who did it, what is the difference between my son and myself?

If I hadn't believed in him and given him $10 million, we wouldn't be in this situation now.

In other words, he is equivalent to an angel investor.

"We all know why we are gathered here today."

“MGM is going to be listed again, and to achieve this step, it is inseparable from everyone’s efforts.”

“This is the result of our joint efforts and is inseparable from everyone’s hard work, so everything you have earned is what you deserve.”

"Here, I want to express my gratitude to everyone. Thank you!"

Snap, snap, snap…

There was immediate applause in the conference room.

The old man looked at Eric, nodded and said, "I won't say anything more. This time MGM will use 30% of its shares for listing financing."

"Another 15% of the shares will be used for internal financing. The opportunity is here. How much you can get depends on your ability."

There was a sudden cry of surprise in the HO meeting room, and many people's breathing suddenly became rapid.

The 15% share was a little beyond their expectations. When everyone discussed privately, they thought Eric would only take out 10% at most and put a larger share into the market.

There is no doubt that this approach will bring greater benefits to the company and him personally.

But he chose to give more benefits to his buddies who fought together to conquer the world. Many people instantly felt that they would die for their friends. It is hard to find such a boss even with a lantern.

However, what everyone does not know is that the reason why Eric is so generous is because he holds a bigger trump card in his hand, which is Facebook and YouTube.

Even by 2023, Disney and Netflix will be strong enough. Looking at the global film and television companies, they are the two giants competing for supremacy, and other companies are not strong enough to compete.

Even so, the market capitalization of the two companies fluctuates around US$200 billion, and sometimes as high as US$250 billion.

On the other hand, what is Facebook worth? It once exceeded one trillion. All the film and television companies in the world combined are not as valuable as Facebook.

Even though the stock price later plummeted due to various wrong decisions, such as the confusing layout of investing in the Metaverse, it was still able to maintain at around 600 billion US dollars, which still surpassed the total market value of all film and television companies in the world.

YouTube has always belonged to Google and has never been listed.

Countless people and institutions are waiting for it to go public independently, and the valuation given is nearly 400 billion US dollars, which is also far higher than Disney and Netflix.

So the upper limit of running a film and television company is there. It is indeed far behind social media, and the status and voice of the two are completely not on the same level.

So Eric had no regrets about giving out 45% of his shares for financing. He needed the money, and 45% was just the first step.

The money obtained this time will be used to repay debts and support the operation and development of Facebook and YouTube.

I will continue to raise funds in the future until the remaining shares in my hands are maintained at 10% to 15%.

In addition, 20% of the shares were sold to AK Films, transferring money from one hand to the other.

When AK Films becomes bigger in a few years, it will definitely go public. At that time, another company will continue to hold part of AK Films' shares and continue the nesting.

Moreover, although he sold 15% of the shares to this group of executives this time, they may not have the ability to take them all.

Although the value of these shares is not as valuable as after the listing, it is far more than when Eric first took over MGM.

Unlike the physical industry, film and television companies rely on storytelling to increase their stock prices. The better the story, the higher the market's expectations of you.

As things stand, MGM's story is obviously very well told, so the actual value of this 15% stake is $800 million.

Don't think Eric's asking price is too high. The government's procedures have reached the final stage, and the price is close to double this amount. He is really conscientious in giving his subordinates the opportunity to make money.

However, even if these people have been executives for many years and receive hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation each year, Eric estimates that even if they sell everything they have to take out loans, they would not be able to raise 800 million yuan in total.

According to regulations, after going public, if company executives want to sell their stocks for cash, the ban will be lifted one year later, while the ban will be lifted after three years for founders.

You have to hold on to the shares within a year. If you really take out a loan to buy them, you will end up like a flying man in the face of a drop in price.

The bet is whether you believe Eric can continue to create miracles.

Those that they cannot buy will naturally be put on the market for financing, so the probability that the shares actually put on the market will exceed 30%.

The meeting didn't last long. After it ended, everyone dispersed instantly. Needless to say, they all went to think of ways to raise money.

(End of this chapter)