America's Road to Wealth

In recent years, David Geffen has always had the idea of ​​​​becoming a big newspaper owner, and the one he wants most is the "Los Angeles Times".

This is a newspaper with the best influence and sales in the west coast of the United States. It can be said that on the west coast, it is the boss of newspapers and a very influential media.

With David Geffen's current net worth, he is fully capable of buying this top five newspaper in the United States.

Unlike many people's imagination, the big newspapers in the United States, except for the somewhat super-standard "Wall Street Journal".

The market value of other newspapers is not particularly expensive.

Especially now, after experiencing the impact of the Internet, the paper media is no longer as powerful as it used to be.

Take the Los Angeles Times as an example. At its peak, its market value once exceeded $2 billion.

But as of now, its market value has only left about 1 billion US dollars. However, this market value has already made it one of the most valuable single newspapers in the industry.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that with the continuous development of the Internet, the paper media that used to call the shots must either transform or accept decline.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, the newspaper industry has long been a sunset industry and will only become less and less worthwhile.

It is probably for this reason that David Geffen raised the idea of ​​​​wanting to buy the Los Angeles Times.

The unfading Los Angeles Times, he is not entitled to own...

The current owner of the Los Angeles Times is the Tribune Newspaper Group, the second largest newspaper group in the United States.

In August 2000, the Tribune Corporation acquired the Times-Mirror Company at a high price of $8.3 billion, and the "Los Angeles Times" became the property of the Tribune Newspaper Group.

"Okay. It seems that you are very determined."

Looking at the opposite side, David Geffen, who still plans to chase his dream after some persuasion by himself.

Abel also gave up the idea of ​​continuing to persuade him.

Everyone has their own aspirations, not to mention that now that DreamWorks Music has matured, even without David Geffen, it can still develop well.

Besides, David Geffen also agreed to continue to serve as producer and consultant, and he can still be allowed to come back to work when needed.

"I'm sorry, but it's been a dream of mine since I was a kid. From a very young age, I've always wanted to have my own newspaper."

David Geffen said apologetically that he didn't dare really make Abel angry.

The current Abel is no longer the Abel who chatted and laughed with Ovitz on his yacht.

Nor is it the Wall Street tycoon who just entered the media field when he just acquired DreamWorks.

The current Abel is already one of the few figures in the kingdom.

Even if he is as rich as David Geffen, facing such a behemoth, if he is targeted, he will not have much power to fight back.

David Geffen thought very clearly, "I just want to own a newspaper. The specific work will still be handed over to professional people. And I will continue to take on my responsibilities, such as film and music. Work. Dear BOSS, this is what we agreed on at the beginning."

Seeing that his attitude is not bad, and his statement is very clear, Abel nodded in satisfaction, "But it is not so easy for you to get the Los Angeles Times. Although the Tribune Newspaper Group has continued to lose money in recent years, the amount of loss is not large. Big. Well, I can get someone to contact Steve Case, but I don't think it will go very well."

Hearing Abel's words, David Geffen nodded happily.

Steve Case is the founder and current CEO of Tribune Group, and has a high status in the American media circle.

If David Geffen came to him and offered to buy the Tribune-owned Los Angeles Times.

There is a high probability that David Geffen will be severely reprimanded by Steve Case and then kicked out of the office.

The same thing can be done by Abel, even Abel doesn't need to go there himself. Just send someone to Chicago with his reputation and talk it over with Steve Case.

Steve Case will deal with it very seriously. Even if the hope of getting the "Los Angeles Times" from the other party is not high, it is much better than David Geffen himself.

This is a difference in status.

After talking here, David Geffen was finally satisfied.

The general manager of DreamWorks Music Company actually knows that he wants to get the "Los Angeles Times" now, which is a bit unrealistic.

Although the Tribune Group is not doing well recently, it can continue to hold on.

The "Los Angeles Times" is also very important, and the Tribune Group cannot easily give up.

Geffen did this because he was actually a little afraid that Abel would forget about it, or that he would forget about it on purpose.

He just wanted to remind Abel that Abel is willing to help now and has not really forgotten about it.

David Geffen was content.

The two chatted a little more, and David Geffen invited Abel to tour DreamWorks Music.

"Dear Boss, this is your second time at DreamWorks Music. You can't just sit in the office, maybe you should show up at the company and let our singers know who their boss really is. "

"Then what are you waiting for?" Abel looked at the time, it was around 4:00 p.m. and it was around 5:00 p.m. He smiled and said, "I actually want to know how the singers made those songs in the recording studio. of."

David Geffen laughed and led Abel out of the office to make his rounds at DreamWorks Music's West Coast headquarters.

The real headquarters of Music DreamWorks is in New York, but that headquarters is actually mainly used as a management center, administrative center and business center.

Although the entire Smith Tower belongs to Abel, there are too many companies under his umbrella.

As an office space, the entire Smith Tower is allocated to its subsidiaries, and the office area that each company can allocate is relatively fixed.

Important companies, such as Smith Capital, Smith Bank, etc., of course have wider and larger venues.

The entire Smith Media is not small, but if it is assigned to DreamWorks Music, it is only enough for two hundred people to work.

So apart from a few studios in Brooklyn and Queens, the headquarters is more of a hub.

Instead, it is this branch in Los Angeles that plays a more role in the company's operations.

The main office space and recording studio of the Los Angeles branch are not in the MGM building, but in the arts district of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles' arts district is similar to Manhattan's Chelsea district. In the early days, it was a place where a group of painters and artists gathered in Los Angeles to make a living, and it has developed into an art district in Los Angeles.

The entire art district is located on the east side of downtown Los Angeles, and it is considered the cheapest area in the city center.

This is also the reason why most of the so-called art districts in the world can take shape at the beginning.

Generally speaking, those who engage in art are very extreme in terms of income.

The top class is rich, but the middle and lower classes live in poverty. If you have no money, of course you should live in a place with cheap rent.

The Chelsea district in Manhattan and the art district in Los Angeles were basically formed in this way in the early years.

Not far from the iconic Bradbury Building in the Art District, the company bought a building with more than 20 floors as the West Coast headquarters of DreamWorks Music and the headquarters of another music giant, Warner Music Group. Just on the same street.

"The company has four recording studios in Los Angeles, one of which is in the building."

David Geffen walked in front, followed by Abel, and a group of company executives.

You can see the excited expressions on everyone's faces, all around Abel.

There are not many opportunities to see the living American legend of the world's richest man at such a close distance.

"Is anyone recording now?" Abel asked casually.

David Geffen immediately replied: "Yes, Faith Hill is working on her latest album "Cry", which is also her fifth solo studio album."

"Face Hill...the female country music singer who sang "Faith"?" Abel had some impressions.

Faith Hill is probably the most famous country music singer in America right now. Many of her songs are very popular in the United States.

The music that Abel liked to listen to before was mainly country music.

This makes the current Abel know and understand the female singer Faith Hill.

"Yes," David Geffen said with a smile, "that was one of Faith's most successful songs, and that album had sold more than 8 million copies. It also gave Faith the second year of Grammy Best Female Country Music Vocal Performance in the United States."

Abel nodded. He remembered that Faith Hill was pretty.

It's just that he debuted very early, and he has been famous for at least 10 years now, so he is probably not too young.

"Go and see, I'm quite curious about how singers make albums in the studio." Abel said casually.

David Geffen and other senior executives took Abel to the recording studio.

At this time, most of the employees and singers in the Los Angeles branch of Music DreamWorks already knew their real boss and were patrolling the company.

This kind of thing can't fool people. You can guess it from the fact that there are suddenly a lot of mysterious people in black suits in the company, all of them with serious expressions.

These mysterious people patrolled around as soon as they came in, guarding some important places such as doorways and aisles. They even have some metal-exploring equipment on hand to check if everyone is carrying anything they shouldn't be carrying.

This is obviously the bodyguard of the big boss, making everyone more sure that Abel Smith must be in the company now.

DreamWorks Music, Los Angeles branch, in the singer's lounge.

Kanye West, one of the hottest rap singers in the United States who was chatting with Celine Dion, received this message.

"Wow, Mr. Smith is here?! Is this real?!"

Kanye West, who has released two albums in a year and a half, and both albums are hot in the hip-hop circle, is now one of the superstars among black singers.

But Kanye West will never forget that he can have this moment because of his risky pounce at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Without that brave attack, God knows how long it will take JAY-Z to release an album for himself, and he may even fool himself, drag himself, and not give himself money to release an album.

So after becoming famous, Kanye West was proud of his bravery and determination at the time, and also thanked the big boss for his appreciation at that time.

This allowed him to tell everyone about his glorious deeds after he became famous.

His approach made this incident spread, and let Americans know that Kanye West, who is now popular in the hip-hop circle, was discovered by Abel, Bole himself.

In fact, this can also be regarded as Kanye West's practice of improving his own social status.

The singer that Abel Smith pulled out, it also proved that Smith had an impression of this person for the last time. This made Kanye West suddenly have a higher status in the American music circle.

Of course, there is no way to compare with Britney Spears and Pure Punk.

Unlike Kanye West, who was cultivated by DreamWorks Music itself. Celine Dion is similar to Faith Hill. They are already famous singers who were later attracted by David Geffen with generous conditions.

Hearing this news at this moment, Kanye West, who was excited and happy when he saw it, and Celine Dion were also full of curiosity:

"Oh! Our boss is here. I haven't seen his real person until now. Hey, it seems that he was on the Grammy once. But I was far away from him at that time. If I can get close this time It’s good to see you in person.”

Kanye West smiled and said: "Celine, believe me, our boss is very easy-going. We should all see him today, let's go, let's go outside and see how it goes."

Celine Dion thought about it and agreed.

The two walked out the door of the lounge, and each took an assistant into the elevator.

The assistant asked for good news, and the two already knew that the boss was at the recording studio, watching Faith Hill record an album.

"I knew I should have recorded my second album now!" Kanye West immediately said with some regret.

"Then what the boss is looking at is me recording an album."

His 2nd album started recording three months ago, and it went on sale half a month ago, and the sales volume is very good.

This completely established Kanye's status in the hip-hop circle.

Celine Dion took one more look at the black man, thinking that this black man was too good at flattering.

But she was also very envious in her heart. She knew that Kanye West was indeed in the company and received some preferential treatment from David Geffen.

This can be seen from Kanye West's two albums in a year and a half, as well as the degree of announcement of the album.

And the reason why Kanye West is valued by David Geffen, Celine Dion feels that part of it is because of this black man, probably really had a little relationship with Abel Smith at the beginning.

Thinking of Abel Smith again, watching Faith Hill record an album in the recording studio, she wondered whether Faith Hill and the big boss would retire in a month.

Because compared to herself, Faith Hill, who was the same age as her, could indeed be called a beauty.

While thinking this way, the door of the elevator that hadn't reached the target floor was opened.

Celine Dion saw a group of young men and women standing outside and wanted to come in, but was slightly taken aback when she saw two big-name singers inside.

Soon, this group of young men and women, after saying hello to her and Kanye, squeezed in.

At this moment, Celine Dion has recognized that this group of young men and women who look older are only eighteen or nineteen years old, and the younger are only eleven or twelve years old. They are a group of good young men and women dug out by the company's scouts .

David Geffen runs a music company and has two well-known hobbies.

One is that he likes to dig out famous singers, and the other is that he likes to adjust and cultivate those potential seedlings.

Like Kanye West and Avril Lavigne, these two popular singers in the European and American music circles are both works of David Geffen.

Of course, everyone knows why David Geffen can choose these two expensive business methods.

David Geffen has a wealthy patron.

You must know that digging out famous singers and cultivating a large number of newcomers are all expensive and labor-intensive methods.

You can't play without money.

Thinking of this, Celine Dion's eyes swept over these young men and women.

She was thinking that there might be a new Kanye West or two in the future, or Avril Lavigne.

Who is the one?

Celine Dion was a little bored and wanted to pick out the possible future superstars among these people.

But she didn't know these young men and women, so she could only judge by their appearance. There were blacks and whites, men and women, and it was difficult to judge.

But there was a young girl inside that caught Celine Dion's attention.

It's not that this girl is particularly beautiful, but that she looks very young, but she is tall, with a head of golden curly hair and fox-like eyes, which is very characteristic.

And maybe because of the presence of Celine Dion and Kanye, the young men and women who were chattering outside did not dare to speak after entering the elevator.

The atmosphere was a bit dull, until the elevator door, everyone squeezed out.

Well, the purpose is the same, they all get off the elevator to the floor of the recording studio.

Out of the elevator, Celine Dion heard a little black girl say to the little blonde girl with foxy eyes, "Wow, Taylor, there are so many people!"

There were indeed a lot of people, and everyone wanted to come over and have a closer look at the boss.

The man wants to be valued by the boss like Kanye West, and then everything goes very smoothly.

Women want to be like Britney and pure punk, to be spotted by the boss, and then soar into the sky.

They're no different than the Grammys, just like the Hollywood ones.

For music, for art? Just talk.

There are too many people in the corridors, and they have to go through security checks, and the elevators have been restricted for people to come out.

Kanye West and Celine Dion suddenly found that they couldn't squeeze the front.

In fact, it's not impossible to squeeze at all. Among the young men and women, Celine Dion saw the little black girl and the little girl with fox eyes she noticed just now. Due to their petite body and boldness, the two have already squeezed to the front. up.

Both Celine Dion and Kanye West have already become famous, and they are somewhat burdened by idols, so it is not easy to do this kind of thing.

Soon, when Celine Dion wanted to complain to Kanye about too many people.

The pair heard cheers ahead, then Abel Smith's voice.

"Good afternoon, everyone in the music kingdom. I'm Abel Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you today."