Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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There are two major obstacles to the marriage between AOL and Time Warner Turner.

From an internal point of view, the management of both parties need to coordinate how to distribute power.

Despite the fact that AOL’s market capitalization ranks tenth in the rankings, this does not mean that it has a history in the media field, surpassing Time Warner Turner-this is why their marriage is "merged" into "AOL Time Warner Turner." Rather than "acquisition" as a major reason for "AOL" or "Time Warner Turner."

In fact, the first major expansion of Time Group in the late 1980s, the marriage with WarnerMedia, had troubles such as how to distribute power.

In the beginning, Time Group planned to acquire Warner Media, but Paramount was killed midway and also wanted to compete for Warner Media. As a result, Time Group had to raise the price, and the linked company structure and power distribution also changed from " "Acquisition" tilts towards the direction of "merger".

The final compromise is that Steve Ross from Warner Media and Richard Munro from Time Group become the co-CEOs of the new Time Warner Group.

However, this state did not last long before it was broken by Steve Rose, a generation of mall heroes who quickly gained the upper hand. He successfully squeezed out Richard Monroe and took over the power of Time Warner Group, which is equivalent to Warner. Control the era.

If it hadn’t been for 1992, Steve Ross would have "died young" at the age of 65 due to cancer, and he would not have had the turn of the original Time Group like the current Time Warner Turner CEO Gerald Levine. All in the top.

Since then, in the 1990s, Time Warner undertook its second major expansion-a marriage with Turner Broadcasting Corporation.

With the strong financial support of the richest man, Ted Turner, who was in conflict with Rupert Murdoch, attacked the other party’s expansion in the U.S. cable television industry in the mid-1980s. "Without the results, we can see how many nutrients have been plundered by Turner Broadcasting Corporation, especially its flagship media-Cable News Network, and how strong it has grown.

In this case, it is not difficult to imagine that the process of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting Company being merged into Time Warner Turner Group is also full of the game of power distribution.

Roughly speaking, Ted Turner, who became the largest individual shareholder of Time Warner Turner Group, and Tang Huan, who followed in, acted relatively mildly in exchange for more "real" power-for example, Gerrard- Levine, the CEO, is in great power, but in such a large group, the power of the vice president is also not to be underestimated; when Time Warner Turner and AOL merge, they can be directly transformed into Helper from Steve Case from AOL.

Another major obstacle is that from the outside, review agencies including the Federal Trade Commission cannot be stuck on the alliance between AOL and Time Warner Turner in the process of industry monopoly assessment.

Fortunately, instead of working hard with AOL, which currently has more than 40 million users and a market value of close to 160 billion US dollars, Time Warner Turner, who wants to enter digital media and can’t wait to "marry out" himself, takes the initiative to go to public relations. Up.

It can be said that the marriage between AOL and Time Warner Turner, through the government review, is not a big problem, it is just that it is sooner or later-AOL just sit back and wait for the "marry a wife".

But it is precisely Tang Huan who knows too well how this "earlier, later" is mysterious-you know, AOL's current market value of nearly 160 billion US dollars, a large part of it is the Internet bubble, so we must make use of this once-in-a-lifetime, Internet valuation far exceeds the "good market" of traditional industries to fully digest the marriage with Time Warner Turner.

The richest man has supported AOL for more than ten years from scratch. Is it purely for the purpose of making money for listing?

Of course this is not the case-AOL and Turner Broadcasting will join forces to perfectly harvest the power of traditional media. This is the ultimate goal.

And now at this final stage, the "time difference" is becoming more and more important-just imagine if AOL will join hands with the Turner Broadcasting Company, which has successfully "lurked" in, to digest Time Warner Turner starting this year. , Then when the current economic cycle of the United States is down and its nature of "foreign power and medium power" is exposed, will "divorce" still occur?

For this "time difference", the richest man has no less secret activities-for example, the development of AOL is far more successful than the original time and space.

And now, there is another opportunity to advance, that is, the House of Cards, a personal AOL website service that has made many American politicians "zipper" the scandal in broad daylight. After completing its historical mission, it can also be used as a bargaining chip for the exchange of interests—— Counting the birds with one stone, it is estimated that only the scheming richest man can do it!

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Barack O’s eight-yard errands are very efficient-the richest man saw that he had an affirmative answer, so he took him to the AOL headquarters in Rockefeller Center, New York, and met Steve Case face-to-face. Communication.

Tang Huan, the "mediator" in the middle, is actually a "performer"-Steve Case, who is well known for a long time, has been talking with Barack Ao for a long time before letting the other party take the rewards as he wished. The joy of great accomplishment left.

When he saw the big boss shaking hands with Barack O’Ao and bidding farewell, he slapped each other’s shoulders earnestly and encouraged a few words. Steve Case joked: “It seems that O’Au has a few words. The state senator is still very much appreciated."

"Time! Fortune!" The richest man smiled playfully.

Steve Keys tastefully said something else, so he asked tentatively: "What do you mean is that the negotiations between AOL and Time Warner Turner can't be delayed any longer and gain a higher market value. Come to be a bargaining chip?"

“It’s easy to get bored and even reveal the details.” The richest man nodded slightly. “It’s not already basically finalized. AOL’s shareholders have the new AOL Time Warner. Turner has 55% of the shares."

Steve Case understands the ultimate meaning of this marriage too, "Time Warner Turner is eager to embrace the digital media revolution, and AOL is eager to turn its high market value into tangible assets".

So, he immediately suggested, "Since you have already come, then it's just right. Let's have a meeting of the highest level together."

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The headquarters of AOL and Time Warner Turner are both in Rockefeller Center. It is naturally very easy for executives from both sides to get together.

In this gap, the richest man visited the top of the rock, the viewing platform of the Rockefeller Center.

This place has been renovated and opened to the outside world again. Although it is surpassed by the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center Twin Towers in height, the cruise ship landscape introduced by the movie "Titanic" brought the "big ship fever", or Attracted a large number of interested tourists, leaving a piece of praise.

Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, who accompanied Tang Huan to look down on New York, said admiringly: "The masterpiece of "Titanic" is simply a miracle."

If the tens of millions of dollars in publicity costs are included, the investment in the "Titanic" project has exceeded 250 million US dollars.

After its full release in June last year, although it was not as explosive as "Jurassic Park: The Lost World", which won a record of more than 72 million US dollars in the first weekend box office, the victory lies in the stamina-about 3. Months later, it became the first film in history to exceed $1 billion at the box office, and in the following time, it continuously exceeded $1.1 billion, $1.2 billion, $1.3 billion, $1.4 billion... until now. 2.1 billion US dollars.

Among them, North America contributed almost US$700 million in the box office; and with the help of the richest man who managed to avoid the impact of the Asian financial turmoil, the overseas box office was almost twice this number.

Up to now, "Titanic" has been on the theaters in North America, staying for almost 10 months, and it can still sit on the top of the weekend box office chart, even on February 14 not long ago. Festival, earned 15 million U.S. dollars in one day.

One of the main reasons why "Titanic" has been able to hold its box office so strong is that under the promotional effects including traditional word of mouth and viral spread of the Internet, the audience is extremely large, and many people have watched it more than once. Especially those American girls who were deeply touched by the love stories of the movie, walked into the movie theater many times, so that Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the actor Jack, became a phenomenal heartthrob, even more than 200 Fans, for failing to be nominated for the best actor at the 70th Academy Awards, went to the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to express their protest.

This phenomenon reflects the essence of "Titanic" that can make business leaders such as Jack Welch astonishing-not only a lot of money, but also a crazy circle of fans, and it has a prestige halo that can blind people's eyes.

Take China as an example. Officials are cooling down the overheating of "Titanic", while Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other big cities have reluctantly organized a vigorous "Farewell Screening" event.

The richest man also used the movie "Titanic" to open up a lot of surrounding things, such as the new version of the Rockefeller Center viewing platform, the top of the rock, and the aircraft carrier resort hotel, and he actively fed back its old line. .

Twentieth Century Fox has confirmed that it will release the "Titanic" DVD at the end of this year, and is optimistic that it will sell 1 million copies.

You know, at this stage, the proportion of American households owning DVD players is about 5%-since "Titanic" movies are so popular, then "Titanic" DVDs will definitely promote DVDs in the field of digital media by then. Further development and growth.

It can be said that under the operation of the richest man, "Titanic" has not only created a miracle for Hollywood-Jack Welch had to accept the clever vision and skill that can do business to such a level.

Hearing the compliment from the CEO of General Electric, Tang Huan smiled mockingly, "I'm afraid I will come to the Top of the Rock to blow my hair frequently in the next time."

Jack Welch laughed knowingly, "Are you mean to be troubled by the antitrust lawsuit of Zheru Software in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia?"

Although Fangyuan Company and General Electric have competition in the medical equipment business, Zheru Software Company and General Electric in the market value of the first throne, etc., they all belong to the level of the game between the innocuous powerhouses, and Tang Huan never Don't talk about learning from GE as an example, for example, a series of measures including establishing your own business school and training management personnel in line with your own corporate culture.

Therefore, Tang Huan has maintained a good relationship with Jack Welch, known as "Neutron Bomb Jack" ~www.wuxiaspot.com~, and General Electric.

So he did not conceal his feelings, and admitted frankly: "Isn't this annoying enough?"

"I think that the response strategy of Philosophy Software is still quite right." Jack Welch said meaningfully: "It is indeed possible to learn from some successful disposal experience from ibm back then."

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After relaxing at the top of the boulder, the richest man immediately attended the joint conference between AOL and Time Warner Turner.

On such an occasion, Steve Case did not hide his words, and directly invited credit: "AOL will stop serving the House of Cards website on the grounds of infringing on the copyright of 20th Century Fox. The Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and other review agencies are evaluating the efficiency of handling industry monopolies."

From the marriage of Time Group and Warner Media, to the marriage of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting, to the marriage of Time Warner Turner and AOL, the current CEO of Time Warner Turner has always played an active role in promoting— —Gerald Levine, immediately waved his hand excitedly, "In that case, we only need to handle the matters within our own scope."

Tang Huan glanced at Time Warner Turner’s largest individual shareholder, Ted Turner, and slowly confirmed: “As for AOL’s future ownership of 55% of AOL Time Warner Turner’s shares, you have no objection. Right?"

Gerald Levine looked around at the people on his side, and said smugly: "We have unanimously recognized this-after the two merged in accordance with this principle, a company worth more than 300 billion US dollars will be born. The empire of media, entertainment, and the Internet is in everyone’s interest."