Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Chapter 838

  Chapter 838 How to spend 20 million?

  Early the next morning, Ronald's personal accountant, Lawrence Wang, brought a man and a woman, two young people, to his home in Staten Island.

"Hello, Director Ronald." Two managers from PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the eight largest accounting firms in the world, made a special trip to visit Ronald, planning to take over from Ronald. Daydream's audit business.

  Later, Lawrence Wang will be mainly responsible for his own private business.

  A dark-haired male manager named Ed Bastian is a true New Yorker. The other black-haired and yellow-skinned woman is Ms. Zhang who came to study in Huaguo. After graduation, because of her diligence and intelligence, she stayed in the office of PWC in New York.

   Ronald looked at their business cards, rather strange. Ed Bastian was not yet thirty and not a partner. And Ms. Zhang has only graduated from university for a few years. Isn't her business big enough to attract the attention of an accounting firm?

   Seeing the look in Ronald's hand, Lawrence listened to him and explained.

  Of course, PricewaterhouseCoopers has been involved in Hollywood business for a long time, and the annual Oscar votes are entrusted to PricewaterhouseCoopers to count. They will not be unaware of the box office revenue that a blockbuster movie will bring.

  The fundamental reason why a young man who was not yet a partner came to serve Ronald was his specialty, which was digging loopholes in the report. Hollywood's distribution business has always been the hardest hit area for financial fraud, and the candidate recommended by Lawrence happened to have this strength.

Ed Bastian is very familiar with this kind of mistrust in the face of customers. He briefly introduced his business experience. He has a lot of business in the entertainment industry, and some are responsible for overseas account audits for multinational companies. .

  From his introduction, Ronald felt that this person had a high level of professionalism and clear thinking. Except that he was not a partner, serving his daydream was actually a little overkill.

"Ed is the best audit talent in our New York office. For any multinational company, as long as the overseas accounts are handled by our team, Ed can always find out the problem from places that others can't find." Ms. Zhang's English is very good. Well, I feel sorry for my boss.

   "Zhang is my best partner. He handles the original accounts in detail. We always go on business trips together." Ed Bastian also introduced the strengths of his partner, Ms. Zhang.

   When Ms. Zhang heard that she was being praised, she didn't speak out as righteously as before, but showed the tradition of self-humility of the Chinese people, so she just smiled shyly.

   "If you still have doubts, I can find referees, and you can call them..." Ed Bastian has a warm and outgoing personality, which is the exact opposite of Ms. Zhang.

"No, no... I'm very satisfied with your team." Ronald woke up from his contemplation. Just now, two professional elites, a man and a woman, cooperated tacitly in the workplace, making Ronald seem to have seen some pictures .

  Ronald was just a little strange. He heard Ed's long list of clients, many of whom were developed by himself. According to the rules that partners need to bring new clients, he should have been qualified long ago.

   "Familiarize yourself with the business. We'll set off later. Today happens to be the second settlement day for the movie's soundtrack." Ronald took a few documents from Lawrence and pushed them towards them.

  Ed Bastian was also a little surprised by Ronald's decision-making speed, took the file and roughly flipped through it.

"Is there something wrong here? Is this sales figure wrong? According to this figure, the record sales of your movie will exceed that of MJ's record, which is the most popular now." Ed Bastian raised his eyebrows, and the artist Sometimes I am not very sensitive to numbers. In these documents, even the sales volume is wrong.

"Probably right," Miss Zhang secretly tugged on Laed Bastian's sleeve, "Dirty dancing is very popular among our female colleagues in the office, and everyone is learning how to dance. The dance training class is full. Eighty percent of them went to learn the kind of dance in Dirty Dancing."

   "My fault, the spending power of women is the last thing to be underestimated." Ed Bastian readily admitted that he didn't understand the record market.

   "We'll go to the office of RCA Records, and you will continue to familiarize yourself with the material in the car." Ronald followed his words, pulled two newly certified accountants into a luxury car, and drove to RCA's New York office.

  Jimmy Reiner, the producer of the "Dirty Dancing" record, was already waiting for them in the office. Bob Buziak, the vice president of the RCA division, and the head of finance, came to greet Ronald at the door. The original soundtrack of the film created RCA's most successful album sales in three years.

   "Bob, it turns out that the R of RKO Films is RCA." Ronald and Vice President Buziak were chatting while looking at the history introduction of RCA on the wall in the largest conference room.

  Ed Bastian and Ms. Zhang got the sales report of "Dirty Dancing" and studied it nervously.

  "Indeed, at that time, our RCA found the father of the JFK commander, Joseph Kennedy Sr., with his help, he acquired the Keith (K)-Oppenheimer (O) production company and renamed it RKO...

   However, although RKO belonged to the five major studios at the time, they encountered serious financial difficulties during the stock market crash in the 1930s. RCA divested at the time, and aircraft tycoon Howard Hughes bought RKO, keeping the RKO name.

   Until 1950, under the onslaught of television, film production ceased. "

  Ronald listened with gusto. Back then, Kennedy formed a consortium to buy medium-sized studios and theaters and sell them to large companies. His Irish background played a key role in this.

   And Hughes is a **** who dated many popular female stars in Hollywood. His maverick personality and weird behavior in his later years, as well as the controversy over his inheritance, were once widely circulated in Hollywood and even made into a movie.

   "Here, here, and here..." Ed Bastian drew three places with a pencil, and then pointed to Lawrence, Ronald's personal accountant.

   "Have you finished reading it?" Ronald spotted the newly hired accountant Ed, and seemed to show a smug smile. In fact, it is difficult to find out the problems without reviewing these books slowly. This time, the purpose of this visit is to let Puhua's accountants get acquainted with the business first.

   "Please explain here, the revenue recorded in the European Bertelsmann record company, and the sales cost. There is also the figure here in Japan's distributor Sony..."

  Ed Bastian pointed to the three circled places to RCA's financial chief, "Bertelsmann is a private company, but we can easily get financial statements from Sony, a listed company."

   "I think this may be a misunderstanding." The person in charge of finance was a little sweaty.

"Transnational business is always confusing. If you need help, I have many friends in Japan and Europe, and I can ask them to help clarify." Ronald looked at RCA Vice President Bob Buziak with a smile .

   "As you said, the merger of multinational businesses is always full of pitfalls, Frank." Bob Buziak winked at the finance chief and told him to deal with this matter. How to make the report, let the accountant find the flaw in half an hour.

   "Let's go on to say, I am very interested in the old history of Hollywood in these golden ages. Why was Howard Hughes not affected by the economic crisis of the Great Depression at that time, and still had money to buy RKO?"

"It's about his amazing adventurous spirit and accurate grasp of the audience's taste. In 1930, he raised a huge sum of 2.8 million US dollars to shoot the air combat film 'Hell's Angels', which achieved record box office results. .

   This movie made him famous, and it was very convenient for him to get financing and build the aircraft that the army hoped for. Then came World War II, and his aircraft company made a lot of money..."

   After a long time, new documents were sent in. The smile on Ed Bastian's face became a lot more normal this time, and he nodded to Ronald.

   "Thank you, thank you RCA for the distribution work, now we can talk about the new record release."

   Ronald looked at the numbers on the bottom line and was very satisfied. Volunteered to discuss a second Dirty Dancing record.

  In the "Dirty Dancing" movie, there are a total of less than 20 episodes before and after, and 12 of them were selected from the previous popular album. But the surprise of winning the top sales gave RCA the idea of ​​combining the remaining few songs with some mambo songs from the 1950s to form a "More Dirty Dancing" record, which will continue to be released next year.

  Because the copyright of the original soundtrack of the episode is still in the hands of Ronald's Daydream Company, they don't dare to make too much of a difference in record sales. Who knew that the accountant Ronald hired was so sharp.

   "Cheers!" Several people cheered with beer.

  In a Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown next to Wall Street, Ronald invited two accountants to dinner. The dim sum cart was pushed back and forth. Ed Bastian seemed to be familiar with this kind of Cantonese dim sum. He skillfully took two boxes in front of him and ate them with his chopsticks.

"You are indeed the most professional candidates. It seems that Lawrence has found some of the best accountants." Ronald sighed again and again. Ed Bastian and Ms. Zhang really have great vision. In a short time, they Being able to grasp the key points, he immediately deceived the RCA people, and obediently came up with more accurate figures.

  In less than an hour, the two of them helped Ronald find at least two or three million dollars in hidden proceeds.

"They will still play a lot of tricks, but these are inevitable in transnational business. We will continue to pay attention to this business, as long as you pay our consulting fee." Ms. Zhang also picked up a steamed dumpling and ate it stand up.

   "No problem, this is the most valuable consulting fee I have spent this year." Ronald was very happy, and Puhua's accountants were indeed qualified.

   "This is our work form, please sign it." Ed Bastian took out a work schedule from his briefcase, filled in the numbers, and asked Ronald to confirm.

  This kind of consulting work not only needs to pay Puhua a large sum of money, but also pays the hourly wages of two talents.

   Ronald looked at it and signed it readily. However, he was a little surprised by the hourly salary above. The quotations of both of them were very cheap, which obviously did not match their abilities.

   "If you don't mind, can I ask why?" Ronald asked again, obviously Ed Bastian's level is already qualified for the title of partner.

"Isn't it because he's so good?" Ms. Zhang felt relaxed at the director Ronald who filmed Dirty Dancing, and knowing that this big deal was won, the boss Ed was getting closer to his partner. Said everything.

  It turned out that Ed Bastian was a very talented child, the eldest of nine children in his family. Although his father was a dentist and his income was not bad, he also graduated from an ordinary university early and started working as soon as possible.

  After just two years in the New York office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, during the annual audit, he discovered the false income of the famous advertising company JWT in an inconspicuous corner of the report. He insisted on professional ethics and exposed the scandal, and the figure that was finally found out was as much as 50 million U.S. dollars.

   Not only did the SEC launch an investigation into JWT (because many of JWT's clients are listed companies), but it also made many senior executives in PwC's New York office forced to retire.

  Although the level is very high, no one in the company is willing to cooperate with such a thorny head. After all, in accounting and auditing, no one can say whether this kind of thing will fall on him or not.

  In this way, a talented financial person can only get the hourly salary of a senior manager.

   "If you need my support when you are promoted to partner, just ask." Ronald has decided to entrust all the company's financial matters to him.

   and Lawrence went to the bank to cash the check, and Ronald stayed in Manhattan this time.

   "Hahahaha, you can really make a lot of money doing this."

   Alone on the big bed in an expensive hotel penthouse suite, Ronald began to roll.

  Just an original soundtrack, let him get back all the 10 million US dollars invested in "Dirty Dancing", and doubled it. It also included the money that Ed had found for him.

  Daydream Films instantly became a well-funded and well-funded production company. Now, the two movies that Ronald promised in advance, "Hairspray" and "Ecstasy", can also start shooting.

Thinking about the ever-growing soundtrack and sequels, as well as the share of the box office of the movie, and the future video income, Ronald has already thought that by the end of next year, he might be able to rely on this "spicy body" Dance" has greatly increased wealth.

  Maybe, you can become a billionaire yourself?

   "Oh, so much money, it doesn't cost much to make two small productions, what should I do?" Ronald began to think about happy troubles.

"By the way, let's go back and forth from where." Ronald remembered his wealth, most of which were brought to him by the stocks of several companies such as CocCola and McDonald's. Now he bought the stocks back and then grew again. , make movies again, make money again...

   "Children and grandchildren are infinitely scarce!"

   As soon as he said it, he had to do it. Ronald immediately picked up the phone to call Lawrence, and then he pressed the phone again.

  Forget it, I am lucky to invest in Coke and McDonald's. It's not that I really understand it, and it's not realistic to double the growth. I'd better ask Bannon tomorrow to see if he has any suitable investments. With so much money, as long as he is more stable, he may never be poor again in this life.

  The next day, Bannon came to the Ronald Hotel early. In the living room, the two chatted privately about the World Media Distribution Group.

   "So, 90% of the $25 billion market is due to wrong sources?" Bannon suddenly realized after listening to Ronald explaining the arrangement of the so-called film screening team.

   If you want to talk about this move, it is really for the well-being of the general public. It is actually much more solid than the Suweier Alliance, which claims to be all mankind.

   It was too much damage to profits, and the two sighed.

   "Kerkorian's purpose may be to raise funds through the bond market. He wants to use the news of you as the person in charge to become a huge benefit in the capital market. You have offended him now."

   "Hmph... I haven't settled with him yet. He actually used the method of those evangelical pastors to deceive me not to contact the relevant people of the other two shareholders. I almost fell for it."

   "Hey," Bannon smiled. This kind of "talent" is actually often encountered on Wall Street.

"His financing plan will shrink a lot now. I heard that his MGM Pictures has suffered a lot of losses. If he can't raise 300-500 million yuan this time, he may go out of business again. .”

"Hey, the most glorious studio in the past." Ronald also sighed a little. This once undisputed king of Hollywood was acquired by Kerkorian and painted his name on the top of the casino. Now the young People, probably know more about MGM as a casino than a great movie company.

   "By the way, what stocks do you think you should buy recently? Or do you make some safe investments? How do you generally deal with this kind of demand on Wall Street?"

   "Generally, it will be handled by private banks, which will provide you with various high-return investment options. But I suggest you wait for a while, because the atmosphere on Wall Street is not normal now."

   "What do you think is wrong? Is there something wrong?" This is the second time Ronald has heard Bannon say that Wall Street is abnormal.

   "I don't know, it's just a feeling, an intuition." Bannon touched his long hair, and he felt very uncomfortable.

  “This year's stock market is so good, the price-earnings ratio of many companies has risen to 40-60, and the profit in the early stage has been exhausted. Now it seems that it is not suitable.

   And...and I've heard that there are some weird positions that are wildly bearish on the Dow, and the Nikkei, and something isn't quite right anyway. "

   "What do you mean? The stock market will fall?"

   "I happened to collect some investors' comments, you can read it yourself." Bannon took out several "Wall Street Journal" and "Investor Daily" from his briefcase, which were marked with 3M scotch tape.

   "The Dow Jones is overvalued, haha, maybe a little bit, but I think the Nikkei is also very overvalued."

   "Who is this person?" Ronald found the answer of a man named George Solo in an interview, and was marked by Bannon.

   "He is a Jewish philosopher, a disciple of Karl Popper, who wrote a best-selling book called 'Financial Alchemy', and recently established Tiger Fund, which specializes in hedging."

   "Oh, what he meant, the stock market in Japan is more dangerous than ours, and they will collapse first?"

  "Almost, many people speculated that his Tiger Fund bought a lot of Nikkei's short positions and Dow Jones' long positions."

   Ronald continued to flip, and another paragraph of text marked in red, which was longer than Solo's interview, attracted his attention.

   "I think there's very little fear to be seen on Wall Street. Instead, ecstasy -- why not? What's more exhilarating than being part of a bull market?

  In this bull market, the returns to the business owners are glamorously decoupled from the slow performance of the businesses themselves. Unfortunately, however, stocks cannot outperform businesses indefinitely.

  Maybe, our stock market went up a little too high, a little too fast. "

   "Who is this?" Ronald looked at the person being interviewed, and his name was Warren Buffy.

"He is a maverick investor, a countryman from Omaha. His listed company neither pays dividends nor splits shares, and now it has a share price of 3,000 US dollars. I think what he said hit the hearts of many people in the market Feeling. The rise is too fast."

   "US$3,000? Isn't his stock the best in America?" Ronald was taken aback. For other stocks, more than 100 shares are considered very high prices.

   "Hahaha, how can it be calculated like this? Could it be that if I split his stock into 100 shares at $30 a share, isn't it the same stock?"

   "Oh, yes..." Ronald calculated, thinking that he had made a joke again, and he had to ask Donna what happened to the stock. It seems that her boss also invests in stocks, maybe it would be good to buy some of his funds.

   Let's buy less, Ronald thought of Bannon's worries again.

  Then why do you spend so much money?

   "By the way, let's buy a house! It's time to buy yourself a better house."

   "Hello, Rick (Nisita)? I want to buy a house in Los Angeles. Help me find it. Yes, it's not too luxurious, and it's not too close to those noisy parties. I want a quieter one."

   "In that case, you won't actually spend much. One or two million dollars is enough. You can also consider hiring a designer to rebuild the house. I'll find a few candidates and wait for you to come back and choose."

   Ronald yelled that it was cheap, and it seemed that he could also get one in New York.

   "Hey, Lawrence, I want to buy a house. You can show me the penthouse near Central Park. Yes, there is no rent control. I live by myself."

"Then you may need to accept the qualification review of the homeowner's committee, but your identity should not be a problem, it just takes some time. If you are in a hurry, there are many real estate developers in New York who are building new buildings. Of course, old houses are better, and I also Help you pay attention."

   "It's not expensive, is it?" Ronald asked the price. He wanted to buy two houses, but he didn't spend a quarter of it? It seems that I am really not suitable for spending money, why don't I get a luxury house in one step?

  Thinking of the mansion, Ronald suddenly thought of his hometown of Staten Island, the old house that Coppola used to shoot "The Godfather".

   "Hello, aunt? Do you have a familiar real estate agent? Yes, on Staten Island, I want to buy a house. Yes, I will definitely have a house on Staten Island in the future."

   It feels good to buy something. Ronald lay down very happily. The key is not the item, but the feeling of being able to afford it without thinking too much, which is great.

   "Ring, ring, ring..." the phone rang.

"Ronald, I'm George. Your agent called me. My mother, Barbara, put me in charge of the New York State primaries, and you have to help me. I'm going to do a short ad for my father's campaign." , when he announces his candidacy, it can be released.”

   "No problem, I have everything ready-made here, just waiting for you to come."

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end