New York 2006

Chapter 339 Acquisition of Big Machine Records

A few hours later.

After the discussion on WeChat, Luo Ji and Yang Jian happened to be on their way home, so Luo Ji asked his bodyguard to drive him home together.

The two have known each other for a long time and are considered very close friends.

Luo Ji said, "I heard from Basque that you have a new girlfriend. She is a singer in my music company?"

Yang Jian smiled: "Yes, we met at your party."

"what is it call?"

"Amy."

A 23-year-old girl appeared in Luo Ji's mind. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and long legs. She was following the path of an idol singer. She didn't perform well in her first album, but she failed in her second album, so she could only hang out in the company and wait to die.

Luo Ji smiled at him: "You have good taste! I've met that girl several times and she has a good personality. She graduated from the Juilliard School, the same school as Gaga. I remember correctly."

"Yes."

"What are you going to do when you go back later?"

"See a movie."

"What movie? What type."

"She said it was called "Valentine's Day," and it should be a love movie. I don't know the specifics."

Luo Ji suddenly felt as if he had eaten shit. Two of Taylor's boyfriend and girlfriend were being hyped in the media. It's because of this movie.

The director of "Valentine's Day" originally wanted him to participate.

Fxxk!

Yang Jian saw something was wrong with Luo Ji's expression, so he asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Luo Ji shook his head: "It's okay."

"Okay." Yang Jian continued: "By the way, the number of monthly active users of Holi increased by 2000 million last month, hitting a new high."

"Is there another hit game coming out?"

"No, it's still the same games, but there are a lot of new users. The gameplay of social games is basically the same. Now we can only innovate in the scene."

Both of them are workaholics, and they didn't have to talk about everyday things before they got involved in company matters.

Luo Ji asked: "Has the data on the size of the global game market last year been released?"

"It came out and reached 610 billion meters."

Yang Jian then said with a smile: "Logic, games are the future of human entertainment. The global game market is twice the size of the global movie and music market combined. You should focus more on our game companies, and Not your music and movies.”

"I came up from the entertainment industry, and film and music companies provided me with huge cash flow. Don't game companies have you? I can rest assured."

"Hahaha, okay."

"By the way, how is the market share of global mobile games growing? Especially the smartphone game market."

"The performance is very good. The growth rate of mobile games is 10 points higher than that of console games and PC games."

"What about the growth rate of social games?"

"Hahaha, social games are now the trend of the times. Every month, the global market size increases by 10%."

Yang Jian became excited: "Now social games are completely popular around the world. Our "Stealing Food" game has become popular all over the world. This will be the memory of a generation."

Luo Ji instantly thought of the first time he played the "Stealing Food" game. That feeling was very familiar. I must have played this game in my previous life.

Luo Ji said: "Yes, yes. Seize the opportunity of the times. Even pigs can fly."

Yang Jian laughed loudly: "I have no problem with you saying you are a pig, but I am not."

Hahahaha, both of them laughed heartily.

……

Thirty minutes later.

Yang Jian stood in front of his villa and waved goodbye to Luo Ji: "Bye."

"Bye." Luo Ji said goodbye to him and closed the car door.

Fiona, who was sitting in the front row, turned back to look at her nephew: "Next, shall we go to Long Island to spend the Spring Festival with Sammy, or shall we go to Robin's place? It's still early, it's only three o'clock, do you have anything else? Is it an itinerary?”

Luo Ji was silent for a moment and said to her, "Let's go to the cinema. Let's watch "Valentine's Day"."

…………

In a darkened cinema, Taylor Swift's face appeared on the big screen. She was wearing a linen plaid shirt and her early side-parted hairstyle, looking youthful and lively.

Fiona turned her face to look at her nephew, and saw that he had a gloomy and expressionless face.

Fiona tried to liven up the atmosphere and whispered to Luo Ji, "To be honest, it feels weird to come to the cinema to watch a romantic movie with you on Valentine's Day."

Luo Ji ignored her and just stared at the big screen.

Fiona saw that it had no effect, and then said, "By the way, what's the name of the girl walking with Taylor on campus?"

"Emma Roberts! Also, watch your movie and don't disturb others."

Fiona was speechless: "There are only a few of us in the cinema. We have booked the theater. Who will be affected?"

Luo Ji ignored her, and Fiona felt that her nephew could not make her laugh, so she gave up in frustration.

The scene of the movie on the big screen switched to the stadium on campus. Taylor appeared again, wearing a sportswear, running long jump on the playground.

Taylor's running form was weird, like a dyspraxia. After she finished dancing, she did a butt squat, which seemed to be for comic effect.

"Hahaha."

Luo Ji couldn't help it anymore and started laughing.

He knew that Taylor's weird running in the movie was not deliberately staged for comic effect.

She is very tall, a little thin and lacks exercise. In reality, her running posture is very strange.

Fiona and the two bodyguards felt much relieved when they saw Luo Ji laughing. The solemn atmosphere of the cinema disappeared.

"Hahaha."

This time everyone laughed. In the movie, Taylor started to be weird again, dancing weird dances in it.

But soon, the laughter stopped.

The entire cinema was silent except for the sound of the movie.

On the screen, Taylor and Lautner hugged each other and interacted intimately. Just like a couple in love.

The more Luo Ji watched, the darker his expression became. To be honest, Luo Ji could totally accept his ex-girlfriend going to film a movie and kissing someone else. He can accept it even if he finds a girlfriend.

After he and Taylor broke up, he could accept Taylor getting a new boyfriend. It was impossible for Luo Ji to break up with her and interfere with Taylor's freedom. Luo Ji had planned to only be friends with her from the beginning!

However, watching the intimate interaction between Taylor and Lautner on the screen, Luo Ji thought of the news they had officially announced in the media.

Then, the figure of Taylor appeared in Luo Ji's mind.

The corner of her mouth showed a look of revenge, and she said coldly to herself, I went out to play with your friends.

At this point, the movie was only about halfway through.

Luo Ji watched Taylor continue to dance funny on the screen. He didn't feel funny at all. Instead, he felt like Taylor was laughing at him through the screen.

"I won't watch it anymore. It's a rubbish movie and it's boring. Go home!"

Luo Ji stood up and left, and Fiona quickly followed.

He looked at his nephew's suppressed angry expression and asked with concern: "Are you... okay?"

"Very good!" Luo Ji said through gritted teeth.

Fiona didn't believe it at all. She followed Luo Ji's hurried steps and suggested beside her: "Well... if you want to take revenge and go back, you can actually go and hang out with Taylor's good friends."

"I told you I'm fine, why are you so annoying!" Luo Ji said angrily to her.

Fiona curled her lips: "You are terrible at hiding your emotions, especially when it comes to people around you. Your emotions are all written on your face."

Luo Ji didn't answer her and walked quickly to the parking lot without saying a word.

Fiona continued: "Maybe you can really consider my proposal. If you want revenge, go to Taylor's friends, such as Miley and Selena. They can't resist your charm."

Luo Ji still didn't speak.

Fiona kept chattering: "You are handsome, sweet-tongued, and generous to women. You will definitely succeed..."

…………

Six pm.

They first went to Brooklyn to pick up their two children, and then drove to Long Island, New York, to spend the Spring Festival with family members such as Sammy, Queenie, and Chucky.

At this time, the entire villa had been decorated in festive red, and red words "Da Xi" were posted on the windows.

The family sat on the sofa in the living room, handing out red envelopes containing rice knives to their two children and younger brother Chucky.

The three children looked happy, Chucky ran around with the red envelope, and the two children ran after their little uncle.

The family watched this scene with great interest and enjoyed themselves. Sammy smiled particularly happily.

"Children grow up so fast." Luo Ji sighed.

Sami said: "Can you hurry up? You will be almost 20 years old in the blink of an eye."

Grandma Queenie asked: "How are Carl and his wife Bonnie? It's been a month, why haven't they come back yet."

Fiona answered: "They are going to travel around the world, and their honeymoon is scheduled for half a year."

"You really should walk more while you're young."

Queenie went on to talk about her experience as a hippie in the 1970s: "When I was their age, I drove around with a group of friends all over the United States. That's when I met Frank, who was still in We met at a school party at Northwestern University. And then there was Sammy. And then Frank just disappeared when he found out, that scumbag."

Fiona nodded in agreement: "Indeed, Frank is a scumbag."

"What has he been doing lately?"

"I lived a very happy life on the South Side of Chicago hanging out with his gang of friends..."

Luo Ji listened to them talking for a while. The women talked about nothing more than beauty and daily gossip. Luo Ji felt that it was not interesting, so he found an excuse to leave.

Fiona looked at her nephew's back and felt that he had recovered from the angry mood in the movie theater before, so she didn't care and continued to chat about family gossip with Sammy and Queenie.

……

Luo Ji came to the balcony on the third floor. It was still a bit cold in New York in February. A gust of cold wind blew by, making Luo Ji's heat in the room disappear. He felt much more awake.

He looked at the night view of New York, took out his phone and dialed John Waldron of Goldman Sachs.

Luo Ji first said politely: "Excuse me, are you busy?"

"fine."

Luo Ji went straight to the topic and said in a deep voice, "It's been more than a month. How far is the acquisition of Big Machine Records now?"

John from Goldman Sachs said: "There has indeed been some progress recently. The sales of Taylor Swift's third album have declined severely recently, and it is difficult to meet their expectations of 7 million copies. They have been a lot more relaxed in their quotations."

"The record industry itself is in decline."

"Yes, the longer it takes, the better it is for us, but their offer is still a bit high."

Luo Ji asked: "How much lower do you think the price for the big machine can be if we continue to negotiate?"

"There's no way to know for sure."

John continued: "There are two main things we can't agree on right now. The valuation of Taylor's copyright library for the first three albums and the expected income from the next three albums. The rest are minor issues."

"Then let me ask you this, how much premium do you think they are paying to the company now?"

"At least 30%."

Luo Ji tried to convince him: "Buying a company always requires a premium. When I bought Marvel, I paid a lot of premium."

"But your acquisition of Marvel was out of business that time, but this time it was out of emotion. The recording industry itself is in decline, and no singer can remain popular forever."

Luo Ji denied: "I'm not doing it out of emotional considerations, I just think Taylor can continue to be popular."

John asked directly: "Do you believe this reason?"

Luo Ji wanted to continue making up reasons to convince him, but his emotions kept affecting him.

He couldn't pretend anymore, so he showed off directly: "I want you to complete the acquisition as soon as possible."

John said: "Logic, you promised me that you would not interfere in this acquisition."

Luo Ji whispered, "I will make it up to you."

"Logic, this is not a decision made by a rational businessman. I feel that you are very angry now. Maybe call me when you calm down."

"I'll make it up to you, John."

Luo Ji first repeated what he had just said, and then said in an unquestionable tone: "I hope to see the results within ten days at the latest!"

…………

Six days later, a piece of breaking news spread throughout the American entertainment industry.

"Logic spent $3.6 million to acquire Taylor Swift's Big Machine Records!"

(End of this chapter)