My Animation Era

High-end business wars often only require simple skills.

Just like what Gu Miao did to Mardete Company, he didn't use any sophisticated conspiracy, he just simply bought people's hearts.

But that's enough.

Originally, Mardete Company had a large number of shareholders who turned to Wanbao and worshiped under Gu Miao's jeans. The only ones that old George could win over were those wavering shareholders.

If he can stabilize the morale of the army and win the support of these swing shareholders, then there is really nothing Gu Miao can do against him.

After all, these swing shareholders plus the equity held by old man George are enough to control the situation.

But the problem now for Old George is that he can only paint a picture and cannot stabilize the actual interests of other shareholders.

The movie "Dr. Night" invested nearly 300 million, and the box office in the first week of release was only 34.7 million US dollars. This is a very failed result.

Swing shareholders are representatives of major investment banks, banks or insurance giants. Their specialty is to add icing on the cake and add insult to injury.

When the Mardete company is prosperous, these people will naturally support George and obey him.

But when the company faces a huge crisis, these people are also the first to betray.

"Investment banks are approaching us."

Lao Zhang said with a smile: "They are willing to sell their shares in Mardete, but the condition must be based on the previous valuation."

"Promise them."

Gu Miao hesitated and said: "All the extra money has been spent, this premium is nothing."

After taking over the shares held by these investment banks, Wanbao's total number of shares held has been equal to that of the founder, Old Man George.

This also means...

Mardete Company is about to usher in a new chairman, and old George, who has been alienated from his family, cannot continue to stay in that position no matter what.

Back then, Steve Jobs was kicked out of the company he founded, and today, George will experience the same thing.

the difference is.

After Jobs was kicked out, he could still win over a large number of supporters and eventually make a comeback, but George had no chance.

Gu Miao would not give him a chance to make a comeback. Once the Mardete company was in his hands, there was no way he would be able to take it back.

Suppressing company founders, or even driving them away, is not uncommon around the world. It can even be said to be commonplace.

Founders who can truly control the company from beginning to end and take the company to the top of the world are rare.

Most companies will be like the Mardete comics, because they are coveted by big companies. In the end, they go through some twists and turns, and the founder sadly retires, leaving others to take over.

Old George is quite lucky.

At least he holds about 24% of Mardete's shares. Gu Miao will not do anything too extreme and will give him a chance to exit with dignity.

Willing to be decent is the best outcome.

If he doesn't want to show his face, then Gu Miao will help him face it. After all, he is really not qualified to fight with Wanbao because he has betrayed all his relatives and can't do much with 24% of the shares.

"He is a smart man. I saw it very early. He will not fight to the end with us."

Gu Miao said firmly: "Old George is old after all, and he has to think about his posthumous affairs. If you leave the show gracefully, you can leave some coffin books for yourself, but if you fight to the end, there will be nothing left."

He believed that Old George had understood the current situation.

If nothing else happens, the internal battle over Mardete will come to an end before the movie "Dr. Night" is released.

If you do something you know you can't do, you are not a hero but a fool.

Old George had been treacherous all his life, so he would naturally not make such a low-level mistake.

After learning that Wanbao was suppressing "Dr. Night" and that Wanbao started the civil strife in the company, he quickly compromised.

Gu Miao is very good at reading people!

Old George was really smart. He knew that there was no chance of winning if he tried hard at this time, so he simply made an offer and was willing to voluntarily withdraw from Mardete Company.

"No! This is mine..."

Old George relented, but his stupid son didn't see the situation clearly. He was furious when he learned that Wanbao didn't give him any soup.

"You didn't keep your promise. You clearly promised that this part of the equity would be left to me..."

"I won't let you succeed, you treacherous guy, I will unite other shareholders to oppose the acquisition!"

"They won't listen to you." Gu Miao said nonchalantly, "A promise without a contract is just nonsense. Even if there is a contract, liquidated damages are not unaffordable."

Gu Miao taught this stupid rich second generation a hard lesson and made him understand the dangers of society.

Old George is also extremely disappointed with his son. How long has it been since then that he still has such naive ideas?

No wonder it attracts wolves into the house!

Old George, who was extremely disappointed, silently made a plan. He would rather donate all the money he had after transferring his shares than leave a penny to this prodigal son.

…

The last day of March.

Mardete, a company far away in Hollywood, North America, held its latest board meeting.

Nantong serves as a director and is nominated as a candidate for the new chairman.

The results of the vote are clear.

Under the premise that Wanbao had completely penetrated and secured absolute controlling stake, Nantong was elected as the new chairman of Mardete Comics Company without any suspense.

The first thing he did after taking office was to announce his acceptance of Wanbao Comics' acquisition of Mardete Comics and submit it to the commercial department for review.

Under normal circumstances, this acquisition would most likely be rejected.

After all, in the North American comics market, Marlboro and Mardete are almost a monopoly, with the two occupying more than 78% of the market share.

Moreover, Wanbao Comics is still a company from China. No matter how you think about it, you know that this acquisition will not be approved.

But these are abnormal circumstances.

Even if the acquisition is not approved, Wanbao Comics has already acquired Mardete Comics Company, which means it will be executed first and then played.

Therefore.

This acquisition, which may be suspected of monopoly investigation, was approved with few obstacles.

However, as soon as the acquisition was completed, Lao Zhang told Gu Miao some bad news, that is, Wanbao's strong acquisition of Mardete Comics and its monopoly on American comics has aroused the dissatisfaction of many North American politicians.

Forget about Superman and Batman.

At this time, even the well-known North American names Iron Man, Spider-Man... and even Captain America, which has a special meaning, have fallen into Wanbao's hands.

It’s strange that those gentlemen aren’t angry!

There are only a few superheroes in North America, and now Wanbao has taken care of them all. If Wanbao doesn't bleed a little, I'm afraid he will have to wear small shoes in the future.

"It doesn't matter, just let some blood flow."

Gu Miao, who has grasped the core of the development of American comics in the next 20 years, does not mind letting some blood go out.

Such as Captain America!

This guy may have to be transferred. After all, he is too special. If he stays in Wanbao's hands, he will only become a "hot potato."

The North American audience was afraid that they would not be able to accept a US team produced by a Chinese company. Although they were reluctant to part with it, Gu Miao still chose to give up.

He has already eaten up most of the American comics market. If he doesn't give others some soup, I'm afraid everyone will stop playing and be kicked off the table.

"It's not a big problem."

"Although we have to release a few characters such as Captain America, we have already mastered a large number of American comic superheroes and have the absolute initiative."

Gu Miao couldn't hide her smile and said: "In the next 20 years, Wanbao Comics and Wanbao Pictures will not have to worry."

20 years is an understatement.

The current foundation of Wanbao Comics is roughly equivalent to the combination of DC and Marvel. Not to mention dominating for 20 years, I am afraid it will not be difficult to dominate for 40 years.

The success of the American comic strategy finally relaxed Gu Miao's tense nerves.

At least he doesn't have to worry now that one day Wanbao won't be able to survive without original works.

But this is only the North American market.

Here in Asia, you have to watch Gundam!

Superheroes are a complete industry chain in North America, and comics, animations, movies and peripherals are all popular.

But in Asia, only movies and animations have a certain appeal for superheroes.

Other influences?

Let’s not talk about the whole world, at least it is not very good in Asia. I can only say that it is better than ordinary works.

In the final analysis, Asian audiences do not have that deep affection for superheroes, and their obsession is not that strong.

Therefore, Gu Miao has not relaxed because of the achievement of the American comic strategy, and will not despise the work "Mobile Suit Gundam" because of this.

The Wanbao version of the Gundam animation is not a pure 0079 chapter, but incorporates some subsequent sequels.

It’s a Gundam hodgepodge!

This also leads to the fact that the Wanbao version of "Mobile Suit Gundam" will be more suitable than 0079 in terms of plot rhythm and broadcast performance.

After all, times have changed.

In a different era, it would really not be good to make Gundam based on 0079. Incorporating some new elements and new concepts is also a necessary measure to adapt to the times.

It is worth mentioning that although the animation performance of "Mobile Suit Gundam" is not particularly good in all aspects, it can even be said to be mediocre.

But the fanaticism exceeded everyone's expectations.

How crazy is it?

On the Wanbao Video website, an animation with an average of less than 10 million views per episode has been broadcast for about 10 episodes in total, with the number of comments exceeding 1 million and the total number of comments exceeding 2 million.

Quite exaggerated data!

What needs to be done is that even for many popular animations with a single episode of 50 to 60 million views, such as "Swordsman" and "Digimon", they may not have so many comments and comments.

How to describe this...

Hou Bin used the example of a powerful singer who is currently popular, saying that his fan base is not large, and even many passers-by do not know him.

But in the circle of singers, his fans are extremely active, and every concert is always full, with tickets selling for tens of thousands of yuan each.

This is the case with Gundam.

You may say that Gundam is very popular, but it's not that popular. After all, the broadcast volume and ratings are really average here.

But if you say that Gundam is not popular, it feels wrong. The level of discussion and fan enthusiasm are too exaggerated, and it does not look like an unpopular work at all.

"I understand what you mean."

Gu Miao nodded and said: "What you want to say is that the number of Gundam fans is not large, but the quality is very high. Can one of them be as good as ten?"

"Yeah!"

"That's what I mean..."

Hou Bin nodded repeatedly and couldn't help but sigh: "Gundam fans are probably the most enthusiastic group of people I have ever seen."

There has never been an animation where someone would devote a lot of time to the comments section to provide documentation and introduction to every character or machine that appears in the animation.

There is no animation that has such intensive barrage and is so keen on educating new viewers on science settings and backgrounds.

"High" scholar!

This is what Hou Bin called this group of people.

According to him, after the animation "Mobile Suit Gundam" was broadcast, a group of enthusiastic fans who studied Gundam in depth appeared on the Internet.

They listed every data and setting of the Gundam in detail. Some of the information even shocked him, the producer.

Because... even the internal information of the animation production team may not be as detailed as those collected by these fans.

They are really watch frame by frame!

Every detail is not overlooked, and the seriousness and rigor are comparable to Sherlock Holmes in solving crimes.

To be fair, having fans like this is a good thing, after all, who doesn't like a serious audience?

But it's also a bad thing.

The audience was so serious that it didn't even seem like they were watching an animation, but a documentary.

If they catch a loophole or even a flaw, they will immediately attract a large group of people to criticize you, saying that you are not serious. How could you make such a low-level mistake?

Hou Bin gave an example.

There is a scene in Episode 11 of Gundam. In this scene, a building that appeared in previous episodes was destroyed by a cannonball fired by Zaku.

The result was restored to its original state in episode 11.

The reason for this problem is naturally that the production team was lazy and directly used the backgrounds of previous episodes.

But the "high" scientist who discovered this problem couldn't bear it. He accused the production team of being careless and made Hou Bin scared, so he quickly replaced and modified the scene.

Blanch!

You all have sharp eyes, right?

Hou Bin, who didn't expect this to be discovered, deeply admired the audience's discernment.

So cool!

If you can find all this, it is enough to prove that many people have watched the "Mobile Suit Gundam" animation carefully and carefully, otherwise they would not have discovered it.

Others made chronicles.

Based on the story line in Gundam, the details of which year, day, and place it happened are listed are astonishing.

"That's really perverted."

Gu Miao couldn't help but laugh and said: "Looking at the bright side, having such a group of enthusiastic fans is also a good thing for our peripheral derivatives sales."

What a great thing!

As Hou Bin said, there are not many fans of Gundam, but the quality is very high, one can be as good as ten.

Reflecting on the sales of peripheral derivatives, the quality of Gundam fans has also been reflected.

Normally, for animations with such achievements as Gundam, few copies of peripheral derivatives can be sold. But Gundam is different, the fans are so loyal.

Not only is he loyal and fanatical, but because he is older and has a strong spending power, he can buy several copies at a time.

When the Gundam factory was first opened, Lao He had great opinions, thinking that a mere Gundam could not absorb such a huge production capacity.

But now, his face has changed.

Once the assembled model of the RX-78-2 Original Gundam was launched, 500,000 copies were sold in just one week.

Are you wondering where so many people are buying it?

No doubt!

Lao He has already made statistics and found that the actual number of buyers is not as many as 500,000. The sales volume is so high mainly because there is no purchase limit.

I think there is no rule that one person can only buy one Gundam?