America's Road to Wealth

strange ceiling.

familiar plot.

Different people.

Australian national treasure actor, winner of Australia's latest World Medal.

Ms. Cate Blanchett, she looked at the ceiling above her head, a little dazed.

At this moment, Cate Blanchett is still at the villa at 10410 Bellagio Road.

It's in the villa, the guest bedroom near the swimming pool that she likes very much, on the soft Simmons.

Next to Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler is sleeping soundly.

Not far from the two of them was the floor-to-ceiling windows filled with sunlight.

The hazy state of waking up caused by hypoglycemia has returned, and it is now time for Kate to wake up.

Cate Blanchett felt a little regretful, regretting why she stayed behind in a daze last night.

I regret that I was pulled into the battle without too much resistance last night.

Regret that in the battle, I behaved too much like a married wife.

There are many thoughts of regretting her regrets, but Kate was a little horrified to find that her own regrets were not very strong.

"Are you awake?"

An abrupt, slightly hazy voice.

Beside Cate Blanchett, there was a sudden sound.

Kate turned her head quickly, and she saw Liv Tyler had woken up at some point.

"Of course it's me. Could it be him?"

Liv Tyler rubbed her messy hair, looking hazy just after waking up.

"His body, you didn't experience it last night. I have been with him for almost a year. I have never seen him stay in bed, and I have never gotten up with him. You are the same. You will get used to it later."

I won't get used to it.

There is no future, only once.

Here's the deal.

This is sacrifice and giving.

Cate Blanchett thought.

The Australian actress spoke with a slightly hoarse voice.

"You did it on purpose, right? You came here for this from the beginning, right?"

Just now, Cate Blanchett had already figured out the cause and effect.

She found herself a long time ago, at least a few months ago.

I have fallen into Liv Tyler's trap.

It sank step by step, until today, this kind of thing happened.

"So what?" Liv Tyler said indifferently.

He had succeeded and had finished trying to please Abel.

She's not afraid of Cate Blanchett.

"You didn't resist last night. Later on, you were even the one who took the initiative."

The actor who played Princess Arwen chuckled, "I didn't expect my Queen Galadriel to be so coquettish when she took the initiative."

Liv's direct words made Cate Blanchett's face heat up.

Not to be outdone, the Australian actress asked, "How can you be any better?"

"Haha~" Liv Tyler continued to laugh:

"So everyone is the same. Don't put on that face, Kate. Trust me, you will only gain more than you will lose. And it will be many times more."

Liv Tyler sat up from Simmons.

The soft air conditioner fell on her body, revealing her straight and slim waist and upper body.

"Huh~ I have to hold it in for more than a month and eat it once. Eat it all at once~" Liv said with a smile.

"That's not bad. Am I right? Dear Kate, you enjoyed last night more than anyone else."

Cate Blanchett said nothing, just looking at Liv with her beautiful eyes.

"Okay." Liv Tyler patted Kate's bear, who was much bigger than herself.

"Clean up and wash up. I don't know if he will come back tonight."

"But I think, as a senior, as a senior employee. It is necessary for me to explain to you the treatment and rules of our "company" later. As for whether to join or sign an employee contract, it depends on your own judgment." gone."

Cate Blanchett couldn't understand her.

The Australian national treasure actress has chosen to remain silent for the time being.

It was almost noon.

When the two Hollywood beauties just woke up.

Their mutual boss, Abe Smith, has left Beverly Hills.

Abel arrived at MGM, the new possible future headquarters.

The original headquarters of MGM was an old building built in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a height of more than 30 stories.

The location is great, in the middle of Hollywood.

The main structure of the house, while relatively solid, looks like it could be used for another few decades.

However, the interior decoration and layout of the house are very old, and it has been renovated several times, but it is still outdated.

After all, the design of the building itself is there, no matter how much it is decorated, it will not be able to make a flower.

In addition, the overall area of ​​the building is no longer enough for the growing MGM Entertainment Group.

Today's MGM Entertainment Group is several times larger than before.

Faced with this situation, MGM had two options.

One is to renovate the old building and rent some offices at the same time, so that the staff who cannot fit in the headquarters can be moved to another place to work.

Another way is to buy or build a new building.

Robert Iger, president of the group company, is more inclined to the former.

At a time when MGM itself is not yet profitable, Robert is a little worried about building or buying a new building, even if MGM doesn't pay for it.

It's a pity that he, the CEO of the media group and the president of MGM Entertainment Group, doesn't have much power in this matter.

The one with real power is naturally his boss.

"...Is this here?" Accompanied by Bertram Hall, General Manager of New Start Real Estate, and Robert Iger, President of MGM Group.

Abel was in the heart of Hollywood, at the intersection of Highland Street and Sunset Boulevard.

It is also the intersection with the most traffic in the Los Angeles area, and even in the United States.

It is said that here, at least 128,000 cars pass by in 24 hours, and the peak period of the tourist season is even more exaggerated.

But this has nothing to do with Abel. He came here today to see a new 53-story high-end office building next to the intersection.

Seeing the boss' gaze, Burtram Hall said:

"Here it is. BOSS, this is the newly developed office building of Taubman Real Estate Group. It was just completed the year before last, and the interior decoration was completed last year. At the beginning of this year, it began to recruit tenants. The current occupancy rate is about one-third."

Taubman Real Estate Group was established in 1950. In the United States, it mainly develops suburban commercial real estate projects and office building projects.

In the later development process, the scope of the enterprise project has become more and more extensive, and the branch offices are spread all over many cities in the United States.

In the real estate industry in the United States, this company can now be ranked in the top ten.

Looking at the tall and spacious building in front of me, the shape design is not fancy, but it looks very big, square and tall.

Abel nodded and asked, "What is the selling price? Can Taubman Company be sold as a whole?"

"Okay." Bertram Hall replied:

“Taubman Property Group’s offer was $455 million. But I think it’s quite possible to get below $400 million.”

Hearing the price, Abel actually felt a little cheap.

This is mainly compared to the Woolworth Building he acquired.

Woolworth Building is an old building with a history of nearly a hundred years.

Not as tall as this building, not as beautiful as this building, not as spacious as this building.

But for the price of one Woolworth Building, you can buy four of them.

Manhattan buildings are so unattainable in the United States.

Abel turned to look at Robert next to him, "What do you think? This will be the headquarters of MGM Entertainment on the west coast in the future?"

Of course Robert thinks so.

This is the intersection of Highland Street and Sunset Boulevard.

Except for the traffic jam.

It can be said that this is the core of the Hollywood area.

From here to any place in Hollywood, will be very close.

It has its own headquarters building here, which is also a symbol of strength in Hollywood.

Few of the Hollywood giants can afford the $400 million headquarters building.

That is, MGM has been spending money until now, but has not made much money.

This made the responsible Robert feel more and more stressed.

Robert said euphemistically: "Actually, MGM can squeeze a little bit now."

"That's it." Abel skipped Robert directly, and said to Bertram Hall, the general manager of New Start Real Estate:

"Go bargain with Taubman Properties."

"Understood." Bertram Hall replied immediately.

Abel patted Robert on the shoulder, "I know that MGM has only more than 500 million US dollars left in its account. There are still so many filming tasks. So this headquarters building, I will use the name of New Start Real Estate Buy it.”

"After buying it, it will be leased to MGM, and the rent will be based on the annual land tax."

For Abel, buying this building is also investing in the hot real estate industry in the United States.

Bought it and put it here for a few years, before the US real estate bubble burst.

It can appreciate at least one or two times, even if you don't sell it, it will only become more and more valuable if you keep it in your hands.

So it’s not a loss no matter how you look at it.

Let MGM use it as the headquarters, it's just a matter of convenience.

But in Robert's view, this is the performance of the boss who is rich and powerful and trusts himself and MGM.

Robert was a little apprehensive, worried that he and MGM would disappoint Abel's increasingly exaggerated investment.

After setting the tone.

Bertram Hall was busy contacting Taubman Real Estate Group.

Abel and Robert Iger returned to the original MGM headquarters.

In the chairman's office on the top floor, Abel called David Geffen, one of the original DreamWorks giants, and Robert, the president of the entertainment company.

David Geffen, the richest gay man, is now the head of DreamWorks Music under MGM.

Since Abel bought DreamWorks, DreamWorks Music has been funded by Abel and managed by David Geffen.

In a few months, it has successively annexed many American music companies and music labels.

Among them are the little-known New York Arista Records and Los Angeles Porter Tower Records.

There are also Chandos Records, Round Mountain Music, Concord Music Publishing, and Hipgnosis, which are influential medium-sized record companies in the industry.

In two or three months, David Geffen spent more than 200 million U.S. dollars of Abel's funds.

In a short period of time, DreamWorks Music, which was originally little known, became one of the small giants in the American record industry.

Before Dreamworks Music came into being, there was a saying in the American recording industry that there were three major music companies and one small one.

The so-called three big and one small, the three refer to the three major music giants of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

The three big brothers have been leading the way for many years, they have countless large-scale records, and music publishing is also doing very well. Among the three, Universal has the largest market share and is a well-deserved big brother.

The small finger refers to BMG, the small giant in the industry. BMG belongs to the old-fashioned records. It was brilliant in the last century. It was merged and split with Sony Music and then re-focused on publishing.

After quickly annexing a number of medium-sized records and more than a dozen small record companies.

The current scale of DreamWorks Music is even stronger than BMG.

It is in terms of the strength of the label, the accumulation of fame, and the accumulation of singers, it is still not as good as BMG, and of course it is not as good as the three giants.

According to Abel's daily practice, he wants to directly acquire one of the three major companies.

But looking at the names of the Big Three, you know that this is difficult to do.

Only then did he settle for the next best thing, and asked David Geffen, a super music businessman, to help him get a DreamWorks music.

".From my personal perspective."

In the sofa rest area in the office, David Geffen said to Abel and Robert:

"DreamWorks Music's acquisition of small and medium-sized record companies is meaningless. Unless we can annex BMG, other small and medium-sized labels will have little help to DreamWorks Music."

Robert also agrees with David Geffen.

"I think so too. Boss, in the music field, what we need now is a pillar-type big-name singer." Robert said.

"Our biggest singer at the moment is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll. She was bought by the way when we acquired Yuanshan Music. But there is unfortunate news that her contract is only Half a year left," David Geffen also said.

"Wait a moment."

Abel raised his hand suddenly, and he said, "David, what's the name of the singer with the long name you mentioned just now?"

"Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll." David Geffen says:

"The name is really long. Fans usually call her Shakira. She is a Latino singer. The sales of her records in the United States are average, but in the Spanish-speaking regions, her sales are better than Britney's sales in the United States."

At the same time, David Geffen also explained by the way, the signing status of the current head singer of DreamWorks Music.

Shakira made her debut very early. At the age of 23, she released her first album when she was thirteen.

In 1998, she terminated her contract with Sony Music and became a signed artist of Yuanshan Music.

The contract is for three years and will expire at the end of this year.

David Geffen felt that it was necessary to increase the compensation and keep the singer at DreamWorks Music.

Her sales in Latin America, especially in Spanish-speaking regions, are really good.

In Latin America, the young Shakira has shown her super diva temperament.

Latin American fans love this Latino singer crazily.

Hear these words from David Geffen.

Abel confirmed that this Shakira was the Shakira in his impression.

"Then why is there any hesitation? We are such a leading singer, why don't we leave her waiting for her to go to the arms of the enemy?"

Abel said directly: "How to do it, David, you can figure it out yourself."

David Geffen nodded.

Robert agrees.

After thinking about it, Abel asked a singer he cared about.

"By the way, David." Abel asked David Geffen, "The young singer named Avril I asked you to find last time. How about her potential and quality?"

Speaking of which, David Geffen figured he could suck up to his boss a little.

"Avril Lavigne," David Geffen said:

"A good seed with a petite body but strong explosive power. He also has unparalleled talent in music creation. I have to say, Abel, you have discovered a future superstar for DreamWorks Music."

Abel thought to himself, that’s Avril Lavigne.

One of the dream singers of young people in China in the 80s and 90s.

Even in the United States, she was a regular at the Grammys and top-selling charts during the years when her creative talent was at its most active.

Before Taylor Swift appeared, as a European and American female singer, her influence was unique in Asia.

"That's good." Abel smiled and said:

"Nurture her well. I hope that one day she can make a lot of money for DreamWorks Music."

The three of them discussed the matter of DreamWorks Music again.

Finally, to sum up, Dreamworks Music wants to break through the monopoly situation of three major companies and one small company, so far, there is no shortage of labels.

What's missing is a new, better-selling record, with a big impact. It is mainly a leading singer who can hold a large-scale concert, preferably a super king.

Shakira can be the superstar in Latin America and Spain.

But in North America and other European regions except Spain, Shakira's strength is not good.

In America, DreamWorks Music needed a backbone.

"How about Michael Jackson?" Abel's idea was to let Ted Lerner find a way to fool MJ ​​over.

"It's hard," David Geffen said. "Michael is still in a lawsuit with Sony. And his mental state is also a problem."

The super king of pop, the most glorious time was the 1990s.

At that time, Michael Jackson was the emperor of American pop music, the sun.

But now it is the twenty-first century. The influence of the emperor of pop music is still there, but it has lost its original glory.

The price to pay to get Michael Jackson to DreamWorks Music was too high.

David Geffen and Robert, neither felt it was necessary.

Abel just mentioned it casually, because the person he is most familiar with and most impressed with European and American pop music is MJ.

"Britney Spears is really good." Robert said suddenly:

"But obviously, Sony will not let people go. Britney is on the rise, and it is estimated that we will not consider DreamWorks Music."

Britney Spears is currently signed to Jive Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group.

"Britney Spears, Britney Spears?"

Abel couldn't help but smile when he heard the name.

"Maybe I have a way to get her to DreamWorks Music."

Abel laughed.