Chapter 2.2. Acquisition of MGM

"Eric, you little brat, I knew the Cooper man wouldn't be knocked down so easily!"

Eric was walking with his mother on the hospital lawn when his brother Joshua Cooper jumped out from nowhere and punched him in the chest.

"Joshua, you're going to hurt him!" Mom glared.

"Don't worry, mom. I didn't use much force."

Eric looked at the burly man in front of him with some surprise: "Joshua, aren't you training in San Francisco? Why are you here?"

Joshua Cooper, the eldest son of the Cooper family, is 23 years old this year.

Unlike his younger brother, Joshua's academic performance is only mediocre, but his physical fitness is better.

Joshua has been a member of the football team since high school and has continued to do so in college.

After graduating from college, he went to San Francisco and now plays for the 49ers. Although he is not a core player, he always gets a chance to play in general games.

Joshua Cooper pointed at his mother and said, "Why am I here? Of course it's our dear mother. I received a call last night and drove back early this morning."

"Has the team approved the leave? They should be in the game season now."

Joshua smiled mysteriously: "I have a good relationship with Mrs. Brown from the management department, so I got three days of vacation."

After saying that, he gave Eric a look that showed he understood.

Before Eric could speak, his mother's expression changed. As a relatively traditional woman, Emily's tone was tinged with anger.

"Joshua, if you dare mess around outside, I can't spank you, but you'll never be able to enter the Cooper family's door again!"

Joshua waved his hands and stepped back repeatedly: "Wow. Wow, what are you doing, mom? It's like I committed some unforgivable sin."

Emily snorted coldly: "You know what I am talking about."

"Well mom, I'm close with Mrs. Brown because I always bring her donuts and hot dogs and she loves them, that's all."

Joshua said this with his hands behind his back, and began to perform obscene movements at an angle that only Eric could see. He made a circle with one hand and thrust the middle finger of the other hand in and out.

Well, it was just donuts and hot dogs.

Eric slapped his forehead and said, "Okay Joshua, I think there's no need for you to explain. Instead of wasting time explaining, why don't you do me a favor?"

Joshua put his arm around his brother's neck and said, "Of course, if you have anything to say, just ask. As your brother, I will do my best to help you!"

"Party, help me throw a party."

Joshua understood immediately: "We are brothers, because we think alike. After going through so much hardship, you really need to relax."

As he said that, he leaned over to Eric's ear and whispered, "I'll find the location, and there will be plenty of hot girls!"

Eric looked at his cheap brother speechlessly, wondering if this is what Americans think about when they talk about partying?

Unfortunately, as a Chinese, he is not very accepting of fast food, as he feels it is a bit dirty. He prefers home-cooked meals because they are clean and stimulating.

"Joshua, the venue is set at home. I don't care who you want to invite, but I will give you a list. These guys must be notified."

"What do you want to do? You are so mysterious. Who are they?"

"My college classmates, the ones I have the best relationship with, anyway, I have no objection if you want to invite a girl, as long as my mother agrees.

Next to her, Emily Cooper crossed her arms and looked like she was taking care of it.

Joshua immediately showed a bitter face: "Then I think forget it, watch a movie, eat barbecue and drink beer, it's not bad."

Ever since he knew the time he was in, Eric realized that something was wrong because the movie "Windtalkers" was coming soon.

"Windtalkers" was John Woo's last film in America. As far as I remember, it was released in June 2002.

However, this war film, which required huge investment, almost caused MGM to go bankrupt, and it can be said that they lost almost all their money.

Since then, the reputation created by John Woo for "Face/Off" and "Mission Impossible 2" has collapsed.

The following year's "Memento Mobili" also lost money, although not as much as "Windtalkers", but no one in Hollywood was willing to invest in him anymore.

Unable to make it, John Woo had no choice but to return to China. With the reputation of an internationally renowned director, he persuaded companies such as China Film, Pony.com, and Youzu Films to invest in the filming of "Red Cliff" and "The Crossing".

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

However, his old film concepts and models can no longer keep up with the needs of the times. The audience's aesthetic level is gradually improving. To put it bluntly, it is not easy to fool him.

The result was no surprise. All the movies were flops. Even "The Crossing" led to the acquisition of Pony.com. It can be said that it was a complete failure.

And being treated like a trousers by MGM is not the most terrible thing. What is more serious is that many senior executives of MGM have resigned because of this.

However, everyone was paying attention to the directors and actors. Except for people in the Hollywood circle, no one noticed who the executives who resigned were. Unexpectedly, his cheap father Charlie Cooper was one of them.

No wonder Dad has been working overtime at the company recently and looks like he is worried about something. It seems that MGM has already evaluated "Windtalkers" internally, and the result is self-evident.

If Charlie Cooper fails and resigns, it will have a huge impact on the entire family, especially his own future plans. His film career will probably become bumpy and difficult, so he must not let his father resign.

Eric had been thinking about countermeasures, and after a day of thinking, he suddenly had an idea: Why am I so persistent in not letting my father resign? The purpose of not letting Charlie Cooper resign is to make it easier for him to make movies. After all, movies are what he is most proficient in and are a career that he is sure to succeed in.

Since the goal is to make movies, what could be more convenient than to set up a film company of their own? And since they want to set up their own film company, what could be more suitable than to acquire MGM? As one of the seven existing Hollywood film companies, MGM is the weakest, but it is stronger than Lionsgate, Dimension, New Line, etc., especially now in 2002. Although this giant is in its twilight years, it has not fallen yet.

Moreover, compared with the complex equity structure of other companies, the vast majority of MGM's shares are held by one person. Moreover, this person has no interest in making movies at all, so it is relatively easy to acquire him as long as the money is in place.

Then the remaining key question is to figure out how much money it would take to acquire MGM and where to get the money? I remember that before the time travel, Amazon seemed to have spent more than 8 billion US dollars to acquire MGM, but debt accounted for half or more of it.

In 2002, MGM's assets and liabilities were not so exaggerated. I can ask my father about this and estimate it to be around 30 to 40 billion.

It is not easy to get billions in a short period of time.

Stocks, futures, Bitcoin, etc. are too slow, he can't wait, and he has never paid attention to these aspects in his previous life, so he can't do it.

So Eric's focus is on the crooked path, which is the upcoming World Cup in Korea and Japan.

(End of this chapter)