Chapter 380: The Thorn in the Eye and the Sweetie
After Forbes magazine released this year's rich list, many American media reprinted the report.
Because Link is young, famous, and worth a lot of money, he has become the subject of many media reports.
The media and the public have given him many labels, such as 'the world's youngest billionaire', 'the world's richest director', 'the world's richest single aristocrat', 'the most inspirational American dream', etc.
"Time Magazine" once again used him as the cover character, giving a detailed account of his personal deeds and struggles, describing how he transformed from a porter into a world-class entrepreneur, a top director, a best-selling author, a famous philanthropist, etc. It also used thousands of words to introduce his gossip, calling him the world's most famous "Playboy".
People magazine ranked Link number one on its 'Sexiest Man Alive' list, up from fifth place last year.
Other media also reported on Link from various angles. For a time, Link became the hottest figure in the global media and a global cultural and wealth idol.
"This bastard is so good at making money."
In the office, Michael Ovitz flipped through the newspaper and said, "In 1993, his net worth was less than $400 million. In 1994, his net worth exceeded $1.4 billion. Last year, his net worth was over $3 billion. This year, it soared to over $6 billion. His net worth at least doubles every year. He is probably the goddess of wealth's gigolo on earth."
Michael Eisner frowned. "Guess what? The market value of the film industry has been continuously overestimated, while Disney has been depreciated. There are already many dissatisfied voices on the board of directors, questioning our ability. At this time, we should think about how to solve this problem instead of caring about whether Link is someone's lover."
"I know, I know. I'm just guessing that the films of the film industry continue to sell well in the market, while our films are weak in the market. We are a film and television company. If we don't have good works, even if we do a good job in management, we can't change the current defeat."
"Last time you held a meeting to discuss how to deal with the expansion of Guess What Pictures, has anyone come up with a more feasible solution?" Eisner asked.
Ovitz paused with his fingers holding the cigar, hesitating whether to tell him about Harvey's plan to assassinate Link. He pondered for two seconds and then stopped talking. This matter was quite risky and he didn't want to get involved too much, nor did he want more people to know that he was involved.
"That group of people are all thinking about their own companies and positions. What good ideas can they come up with?" Ovitz spread his hands.
Eisner frowned and said, "There are only two ways to deal with Guess What?: confrontation and cooperation. Given Guess What?'s current strength, if we, Disney, confront it alone, the chance of success is extremely small, and if we seek cooperation from the Big Seven, the chance of success is even smaller.
At present, we can only seek cooperation with Guess Pictures. Last time, I mentioned cooperation with Guess Pictures, but I didn’t see you take any action afterwards. Have you not let go of your hostility towards Link?"
"No!"
Michael Ovitz quickly denied it, saying that arranging for Miramax to cooperate with Guess Pictures would be more convenient in terms of procedures, allowing two independent film companies to work together.
“That’s not enough.”
Eisner disagreed with this approach.
The rise of Guess What Pictures is now a foregone conclusion, and the Big Seven studios will not be able to suppress it in the short term. According to media predictions, one or two of the Big Seven studios will be eliminated in the next five years.
The conclusions drawn by Disney's marketing department based on data are similar to the media's analysis.
Disney’s current job is no longer to compete with Guess What Pictures for box office revenue, but to compete with six other film companies for the chance to survive.
"So we need to be more proactive in this matter and invest more money. If Guess Pictures establishes a deep cooperative relationship with the other six film companies and takes more box office, we will be at a disadvantage in future competition. Do you understand?"
Ovitz nodded. Their previous goal was to compete with Guess What Pictures for the top spot in total box office, but last year Guess What Pictures was far ahead of its peers in the North American box office, and Disney could not catch up.
Therefore, Disney needs to change its goal from competing with Guess What to do to competing with the other six major film studios.
Although Disney cannot compare with Guess What in terms of box office performance, it has a chance to beat the other six and become the second-ranked film company in Hollywood.
Ovitz understood this and had to admire Eisner's insight and mentality in this regard. Compared with him, he was not flexible enough in dealing with these problems.
"I see. I will contact Link again to discuss cooperation."
Michael Ovitz nodded, but he was thinking about assassinating Link.
If this thing can succeed, without Link, relying only on Michael Leeson and others, I guess the film industry won't last long, and Disney may be able to take the opportunity to reap some benefits from it.
But if he succeeded, he would lose an ally and would never be able to surpass Eisner and become the head of Disney.
Harvey felt a little conflicted.
——
"Over 6 billion US dollars! He's the 18th richest man in the world. How can this bastard make so much money when he's only 24 years old?"
In the apartment, Quentin Tarantino was flipping through Forbes magazine and looked at the number in shock.
In 1992, he was worth millions, but Link was still working in a fast food restaurant and didn't even have money to eat. In order to raise $50,000 to distribute the movie, he flew all the way from Los Angeles to New York to buy the script from him.
By 1993, Link's net worth was 300 to 400 million, and he also earned tens of millions from the share of the film profits. The gap between the two was not that big.
But starting from 1994, Link's assets began to expand rapidly, from hundreds of millions to more than 6 billion. However, his investment in movies failed last year, coupled with his excessive drinking, gambling, and whoring, left him with only a few hundred thousand dollars in assets.
Link's assets are ten thousand times his.
"Are you envious?"
Robert Rodriguez laughed.
Quentin nodded, then suddenly shook his head stiffly to the left and right, as if his neck was cramping. He sneered, "Who's envious? For normal people like us, a few tens of thousands of dollars a year is enough. The rest is useless. They are all numbers in the stock account and bank account. They are meaningless."
"Who said it's meaningless? After Link became rich, he had mansions all over the world, private jets, yachts, and countless luxury cars. He could go on vacation wherever he wanted every year, buy whatever delicacies he wanted, and he had dozens of beautiful women around him. You call this meaningless?"
Robert smacked his lips. No matter whether Quentin was envious or not, he was extremely envious. A life like Link's was the real life, while others were just making do.
"When you have money, you just eat, drink and have fun, wasting resources? Is this meaningful?" Quentin said disdainfully.
"Not only that, if we have money, we can invest in movies we want to make, and we don't have to worry about the movie not being good and being criticized by the production company. With money, we can also focus more on writing scripts and making movies, and find the best filmmakers to work with. This is great, and I envy Link."
Soderbergh said, rubbing the oily sweat on his bald head.
Quentin curled his lips, "Many great works in the world were created under great economic and psychological pressure. Without pressure, no good movies can be created."
"Are you saying Link's movies are bad?"
Robert Rodriguez rolled his eyes, "I know you are jealous of Link, I am jealous too, this is normal, but it is abnormal to lie to yourself, this is psychological distortion."
Quentin curled his lips and said nothing, continuing to read Forbes magazine. The more he read, the more jealous he became. He suddenly threw the magazine away, stood up and walked out.
Steven asked him what he was doing.
Quentin said he was preparing a new movie. Link could make hundreds of millions from the movies, and he believed he could do it too.
Steven and Robert shook their heads, feeling that Quentin was about to be driven crazy by Link.
——
"Look, Link is so handsome. I just love him to death."
In the villa, Rosamund Kwan shouted while holding up the Time magazine in her hand.
On the cover of the magazine, Link is sitting on a sofa in a gray suit, holding a director's stick in his hand. His handsome facial features are as strong and angular as a sculpture, and his bright and deep black eyes are staring quietly into the distance. He is not only handsome, but also very masculine.
"I heard you, no need to be so loud."
Vivian Chow was sitting on the open-air balcony, facing the garden behind the villa. There was an easel on the side. She was drawing on the drawing board with a paintbrush. The outline of Link could be vaguely seen, but he was not wearing any clothes.
"How about we go to San Francisco to see Link? I really want to mess with him right now. I'll like it no matter how he messes with me."
Rosamund Kwan shouted with red cheeks.
"We just went last week. It's not good to go too often."
"Why not? Link is our man too, we should try to win his favor.
I also have another idea. Link often lives in Beverly Hills because there are more women in Beverly Hills. There are only five of us here, including Chen Chong, Chen Hong, Wang Yan, and Yu Feihong, so there are only nine of us. We should find some more helpers. As long as we have enough people here, Link will come here often. "
Rosamund Kwan touched her chin with her fingers and blinked her big eyes.
"Stop it. Link is very busy at work. We should not cause trouble for him. He often comes to our place when he is not busy, at least two or three times a month. It's just that you were in Hong Kong Island for the past few months and didn't know about this. When Link comes back after filming the movie, you will be able to see him more often."
"Really? If I had known, I wouldn't have returned to Hong Kong Island. I can see Link every month here, which is much better than in Hong Kong Island."
"I heard that the Hong Kong media calls you the 'female god of wealth'. There are many big bosses lining up to meet you. No matter what party it is, you are the absolute protagonist. You are more popular than Li Jialin's family. Isn't this good?"
Zhou Huimin said jokingly with the corners of her lips curved.
"It's fun, but I prefer to stay with Link and let him pamper me, which is more important than anything else."
Rosamund Kwan shrugged her shoulders, walked behind Vivian Chow, looked at her painting, and burst out laughing, "It's too small, you painted it too small, it should be this big." Rosamund Kwan stretched out her white and tender wrist and shook it.
Zhou Huimin blushed and rolled her eyes at her. "When drawing people, you need to pay attention to body coordination, otherwise it will look weird."
"That wouldn't be realistic, and it wouldn't portray Link's majesty at all."
Rosamund Kwan blinked and smiled, then leaned back on the bench and put some grapes from the fruit bowl into her mouth.
Michelle Reis, Carina Lau and Shu-ching Yau came back from shopping.
Rosamund Kwan called the three of them over and said that she was going to San Francisco to visit Link's class, and asked them if they wanted to go.
"Minmin, do you want to go?"
Liu Jialing and the other two were a little tempted. Even though they had just been to San Francisco last week, such a thing was never too much, and they also wanted to take advantage of their free time to get more of Link's love.
"I'll call Feihong later. If there aren't many people at Link's place and he has time to accompany us, I'll go over there."
Vivian Chow said.
"Okay! I'll call now."
Rosamund Kwan jumped up and ran to the living room to find her cell phone. She called Yu Feihong and asked whether Link had much work scheduled this week and how many women would come to visit him on set.
Yu Feihong told them on the phone not to come over for the time being because something small happened on the crew and Link was very busy. In addition, the filming of the play was expected to be completed next week, and it would be more convenient for them to find Link after he returned to Los Angeles.
Rosamund Kwan asked what happened? Is it serious?
Yu Feihong said it was not serious, maybe someone was jealous of Link's huge amount of money last year and deliberately played a prank on him, it was not a big deal.
(End of this chapter)
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