I am Hollywood

[Chapter 943: Ambition]

The car pulled away from the Firefly Group headquarters, and Bill Michanick still hadn't recovered from the shock of Jeffrey Katzenberg's recent comments. Over the years, Firefly Group had not only continuously merged with New Line Cinema, the Disney Group, and ABC Group, becoming Hollywood's largest media giant, but it also quietly controlled MGM and had complex ties with 20th Century Fox.

Bill thought that even the once-great MGM during Hollywood's Golden Age couldn't compare to Firefly's current power. If Firefly were merely focused on reclaiming Columbia Pictures and expelling the Japanese from Hollywood, he wouldn't have been too surprised. To him, given Sony Pictures' current state, if there were no significant changes in the next few years, Sony exiting the film industry seemed inevitable. When that happened, with Firefly's strength, there would be few competitors left to stand against them in Hollywood.

However, from Katzenberg's comments about wanting to suppress A-list Hollywood salaries, Bill understood another point: Firefly Group wanted to become the rule-maker in Hollywood. But establishing those rules was not simply a matter of controlling half of Hollywood's major studios. It would be akin to casting only half a fishing net in a river, allowing fish to swim freely through the other side.

To set the rules, Firefly would need to hold the entirety of Hollywood in its grasp. Achieving this goal meant that after Sony, Firefly would undoubtedly make moves against the other three major studios. In Bill's view, reclaiming Columbia Pictures seemed somewhat realistic, whereas the other three studios -- Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. -- had already become parts of large media conglomerates that were unlikely to sell their film production assets.

In simpler terms, for Firefly to take down these last three studios, the only viable way would be to acquire their parent companies outright. Bill knew Katzenberg well and found it hard to believe he would harbor such unrealistic ambitions. After all, even if such a goal could be achieved, it would likely take two to three decades.

Three decades? In Hollywood, how many ambitions could endure for thirty years? Even media tycoons like Sumner Redstone or Rupert Murdoch, with Viacom and News Corp so advanced, would eventually reach a limit. Even if they lived for another thirty years and kept grasping their companies firmly, they wouldn't have the energy to expand their existing industries significantly.

Yet, Bill couldn't help but picture the young man behind Firefly Group. Suddenly, amidst his mixed thoughts, clarity emerged. Eric Williams was only twenty-seven, but Firefly had already reached such a scale. If it continued, providing he maintained this ambition, controlling all of Hollywood might not be entirely impossible.

Before he realized it, the vehicle had arrived at Columbia Pictures headquarters in Culver City. Hearing his assistant's soft reminder, Bill finally broke free from his reflection. He thought of Howard Stringer, who was waiting on the outcome of negotiations with Katzenberg. After a short contemplation, he decided not to share Katzenberg's remarks with Howard.

Howard was set on becoming Sony's first non-Japanese CEO, but he still needed to remain in Hollywood for the long haul. Bill even considered that he should keep in touch with colleagues from the Disney era so that if Firefly eventually reclaimed Columbia Pictures, he would still have a good chance of continuing as its CEO, retaining control over the company.

...

Christmas that year fell on a Thursday. Aside from a drop to $6.59 million on Christmas Eve, Rush Hour 2 had daily earnings above $9 million on the other three weekdays, bouncing back to $10.75 million on Christmas Day itself. Ultimately, Rush Hour 2 raked in $103.52 million during its opening week, becoming the only film to break the $100 million mark before the end of 1997.

Following Rush Hour 2 was Starship Troopers, which only managed $29.15 million in its opening week, with that final workday dropping to under a million. With Rush Hour 2 breaking records, it was all but certain that its North American total would surpass $200 million, and Starship Troopers would inevitably be influenced by its success.

Since it was unavoidable, Eric decided to enjoy the warmth of Christmas, not bothering with the two lead actors in Los Angeles who wanted to negotiate for an increase in their $20 million contract for the third sequel.

After Christmas, Starship Troopers was scheduled for release in North American theaters on December 26th. With the holiday over, Eric began to shift his thoughts back to work. By Saturday morning, he settled into his study for an informal video conference with Yahoo's executives to discuss their development plans for the coming year, while he waited for the daily box office report to come in from Los Angeles.

...

This past year had seen the complete explosion of the internet technology wave, with many emerging companies throwing caution to the wind and ramping up their online advertising efforts. Consequently, as a portal giant holding over 70% of the North American market, Yahoo's performance again saw a massive increase.

Compared to the $194 million in revenue last year, while the figures for the last quarter were still being compiled, Yahoo's revenue had already reached $435 million within the first three quarters, suggesting that the annual total could approach $600 million. However, alongside the rapid growth of internet users in North America and abroad, Yahoo's operating costs had also skyrocketed. Over the past year, Firefly Investments had injected a total of $500 million into Yahoo.

Initial estimates indicated that compared to the previous year, Yahoo's losses would exceed $300 million this year. Since this was not a formal meeting, various Yahoo executives gathered in CEO Ian Gurney's living room.

"According to statistics from November, global internet users have surpassed 100 million, with North American users accounting for 70%, reaching 70 million. Next year, the number of internet users in North America alone will exceed 100 million. To maintain Yahoo's rapid expansion in North America and abroad, the company will need at least $1 billion in funding next year. Eric, I've received numerous inquiries about whether Yahoo plans to seek external financing. Are you planning to fully inject this $1 billion from Firefly Investments?"

Initially, according to their agreement, Yahoo had already completed a round of stock allocation. However, after last year's $500 million injection, Firefly Investments had increased its shareholding in Yahoo to 85%. Given Yahoo's current valuation of around $15 billion, if the entire $1 billion funding next year were provided by Firefly, their stake in Yahoo would surpass 90%.

"I've mentioned before that we won't bring in outside investment until Yahoo goes public," Eric nodded. "Regarding financial matters, you can discuss them with Chris. This year, subsidiaries like Nokia, Cisco, and LTD will yield significant profits for Firefly Investments, so supporting Yahoo's expansion shouldn't be an issue. Let's focus on Yahoo's future development plans."

Just as Eric was about to continue, the study door opened. He didn't see anyone at first but then straightened up, noticing that his daughter had run in.

"Daddy, Daddy, this is a cookie Mommy just baked. Try it!" The little one rushed to Eric's side, her face pure innocence as she offered him half a cookie.

Eric smiled at his precious daughter, who was intentionally putting on an expression of being just a clueless child. He lovingly picked her up and placed her on his lap. With the mission achieved, Hawaii promptly shoved the cookie into her father's mouth, her bright eyes already turning curiously towards the computer screen. As she spotted several faces, she looked visibly disappointed.

He took the cookie she had shoved into his mouth and set it aside, feeling she was about to scamper off, and gently hugged her, saying, "Elia, remember to be polite. Say hi to everyone!"

Meanwhile, Ian Gurney, Steve Mitnick, and Tina Brown were all watching the scene with amusement. They had seen Elia at Chris's wedding; although they hadn't gotten close, they were not now strangers. Later, they heard from Jeff Bezos that Eric's little girl was exceptionally bright.

Seeing the young girl on the screen moving with charming energy, Steve couldn't help but blurt out, "Hey, Elia, I heard you're really smart. How about a math problem for you?"

Elia glanced at the faces crammed on the computer screen, tilted her head, and replied, "If I get it right, can you all walk out of the screen?"

Everyone laughed, and Steve asked, "If we step out, what will you do?"

Elia stated, "I'll use Yahoo to search for something."

"Elia, you might know how to search with Yahoo, but do you know why Yahoo can find things that interest you? I was personally responsible for creating that search engine. If you answer my question correctly, I'll tell you how it works."

The little girl's eyes lit up at his challenge, and she nodded lightly.

At that moment, Eric noticed Joanna peering in from the door, seemingly ready to take their daughter away. Eric shook his head, signaling her to stay put, then turned back to Steve. "Steve, I think you should pose her a trickier problem."

"Really?" Steve glanced at Eric, noting how he nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's see if you can solve a math problem I did as a child. Elia, it's this: Add the numbers from 1 to 100. Can you figure out the result?"

As soon as Steve finished speaking, Tina protested, "Steve, that's just unfair to Elia. She isn't even five years old yet!"

Steve raised his hands in defense, "But I solved this problem when I was five!"

Just as he was about to give Elia a hint, the little girl blinked her beautiful eyes and quickly blurted, "5050."

Everyone froze for a moment, and Steve was the first to look at Eric, asking, "You didn't teach her this, did you?"

Eric shrugged. Although he found it incredible, he smiled and said, "No, I doubt her mom would teach her something as boring as a math problem."

"Hey, this isn't boring at all!" Steve countered playfully, turning to Elia, adopting the tone of a candy uncle, "Elia, how did you come up with that?"

The little girl stretched her delicate finger into the air and explained, "It's just adding from 1 to 100. Now you need to tell me how Yahoo search works."

The adults didn't think the little girl had any reason to lie, and they were even more astonished. They all knew the formula for summing a sequence of numbers from 1 to 100. However, if this little one could arrive at the correct answer in mere seconds without using any shortcuts, it indicated not just simple mental arithmetic but also a powerful memory and processing speed.

Steve had calculated this problem when he was about Elia's age, but he had spent an entire day scribbling on paper before uncovering the formula, which made calculating the result easy for him. Even though he always had a bit of a jaded attitude, he felt a deep pride inside. However, this little girl might just be a bit more of a genius than he was.

With a hint of reluctance, Steve grabbed a notepad from the table and quickly drew up a simple magic square to present to the camera. "Alright, Elia, let's do another math problem, this time it's tougher! Look, here are the numbers from 1 to 9. Can you fit them into these boxes so that every straight line of three connected numbers equals the same sum?"

This time, neither Tina Brown nor Ian Gurney said a word but turned their attention curiously to the screen. Eric thought for a moment and decided not to give his daughter any hints.

Elia appeared driven by interest, and she focused intently on the digits in the notebook across the screen, her little brain visibly buzzing along.

*****

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