Chapter 496

Arranging for Hamasaki Ayumi to study in Los Angeles was a trivial matter. Her scheming — well, maybe even her scheming — meant that Adriaan still had a lot of things to do. It was already the middle of August, and the early stages of Shakespeare's Love History were almost ready. After arranging everything, Zhang Heng took Gwyneth and Blanchett to the UK.

It was easier said than done. Although there weren't many things to do, it was a mess. It would take a lot of effort to sort them out. For example, during the summer, various film companies had released a lot of excellent productions and earned a lot of money at the box office. DreamWorks and Bosworth's Air Force One, which was produced by Harrison Ford, was at the top of the list. Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford and kissing up to the government, was at the top of the list. For the Americans, who had been bursting with confidence in the past few years, it was undoubtedly good to see their president fighting with terrorists on his plane.

Ever since Adriaan approached Spielberg and invited him to direct and produce Jurassic Park, DreamWorks and AC Media were destined to stand on the same side. After all, they were both ambitious new companies that wanted a piece of the pie in the film industry. However, they didn't realize that AC Media was ahead of them. Because of this, even though Air Force One was doing well at the box office, Adriaan still shared it with DreamWorks. He also chose to cooperate with DreamWorks for the sequel of Jurassic Park. Spielberg was now rushing the production. Although it was delayed because of Saving Private Ryan, it was expected to be released next summer at the latest.

"It's just a little profit." Adrian didn't care at all. For a successful person, sharing his achievements was the most important thing. "It's enough to have Titanic this summer," Zhang Heng said with a smile.

That's right. Although various film companies released good movies during the summer and earned a lot of money at the box office, they were still so small in front of the behemoth Titanic. It was just like the picture of the big ship setting sail in the movie. Except for the first week, which was slightly insufficient due to the strong promotion, and the third week, which suddenly climbed to the peak and fell back down, it had been almost two months since its release, and "Titanic" had been at the top of the North American box office every week!

Based on the current popularity, this situation would probably continue to be maintained. Although the situation of queuing for a long time without being able to buy a movie ticket did not occur, there would still be long queues outside large cinemas in the United States every weekend. The North American box office broke the 400 million mark like a rocket. It was the same for the overseas box office. If it wasn't for the slightly delayed release in North America, it would probably be close to 500 million.

As a result, the global box office had already exceeded 800 million! This was an absolutely shocking figure. Not including inflation, the highest box office earnings in the world was only 600 million! "Titanic" easily surpassed this number, and with the current trend of popularity, it might even exceed one billion! God, this is too scary. What kind of brains do Cameron and Adriaan have?

Hollywood film companies were either beating their chests, gnashing their teeth, or envious. Everyone knew that Cameron was a madman and a tyrant. Back when he was filming Terminator 2 and True Lies, he could burn 100 million. Now, it was understandable that he would burn close to 300 million US dollars to produce a movie. But Adriaan was too amazing.

Although the name of the miracle director was already known, and although everyone admitted that he had a unique vision, his time in the industry was relatively short. No matter how amazing Cameron was, he had only been in the industry for a few years before he got the investment to film Terminator. Then, it took him more than ten years to reach his current status. But Adriaan had achieved a lot of success from the beginning. In just a short period of seven years, he had almost never failed. Moreover, the movies that he was associated with had basically achieved good results. One actor or director after another became famous or achieved their long-cherished dreams through his hands.

In addition, he had also established his own media company with his friends. Now, it was one of the new and most promising media groups in Hollywood. Now, he had taken out nearly 300 million US dollars for Cameron to produce a movie without even batting an eyelid. God, even the seven major companies would not dare to be so generous. What was even more depressing was that he actually succeeded again! He actually succeeded again! This blockbuster had broken the record and become the world's highest-grossing movie, and it was still rising. It made those who wanted to see him make a fool of himself feel like they had been slapped hard in the face. Damn, how did he do it!

Among these film companies, only 20th Century Fox was secretly laughing. They were responsible for the distribution work and fought for a PG-13 rating. Just 10% of the distribution fee was tens of millions. It was too easy to make money. But in their hearts, they also felt that it was a pity. If they had joined in the investment, they would have made far more money. But then again, Adriaan's 200 million investment was directly taken out, and only 40 million was added later. Even if someone wanted to invest, he would have refused if he was not short of money.

In short, in the summer of 1997, no movie could stand up straight in front of "Titanic." Even those European film critics who wanted to nitpick had to give up in the face of the huge and increasing box office. But for someone, this was not a big deal at all.

"Let's talk about it when it doubles." When Adriaan learned that "Titanic" had exceeded 800 million in the global box office, Claude, who was drinking water on the left, almost spat it out, and Laffern, who was on the right, almost dropped his glasses. Even Charlize, who was responsible for recording the key points of the meeting, could not help but raise his eyebrows.

But no one questioned his statement. After the unprecedented success of "Titanic," no matter what Adriaan said, they would probably believe it, at least in this movie. Therefore, under his orders, the company did not stop promoting the movie for a moment.

"It's still early. I deliberately chose the summer," looking at the data, Adriaan said to himself.

In addition, it was worth mentioning that so far, he had written ten checks to Cameron, each of which was five million. Originally, he had planned to wait until the later stages to write a check of 100 million, and then slowly enjoy Cameron's shocked face, to see if he would open his mouth like a goose egg.

However, because the morale of Cameron's studio was not high at the moment, Adriaan first wrote a check of five million to encourage his staff, so he simply wrote checks of five million each.

"Thank you very much, Eide, but if you can, please finish it all at once." Cameron did not know whether to laugh or cry at the snowflakes of checks. He was depressed, but he could not show it. After all, he had voluntarily given up his salary and bonus. Adrian's willingness to pay him the bonus was already very benevolent of him, so he had no choice but to speak humbly on the phone.

"Why don't you guess if I can drown you with a check?" Adriaan replied with a laugh.

"… Okay, then can I pay by card? There will be a lot of discounts, "Cameron said after a long silence. Then, it was Adriaan's turn to spit.

Apart from this, there were also a lot of things to do at the record company. He had to ask about the production of Britney's debut album and Christina's theme song. After preparing for so many years, he had to succeed no matter what. With Claude's acquisition and integration, coupled with Adriaan's help, the new songs and groups that came out had achieved decent results. The record company under AC Media had also gained a foothold in the industry.

Even so, it could only be regarded as a record company between first-rate and second-rate, and still had a long way to go compared to the top record companies. Although Adriaan had a strategy, he was not as familiar with music as he was with movies, television, and the Internet. Therefore, the arrangements in this area were left at the end, and it would take a few years before they could be implemented. Therefore, if he wanted to progress further in this period of time, he had to rely on other methods, such as Britney and Christina.

Although the newcomers and groups that were introduced before were not particularly popular, they were quite popular among the teenagers, and the company had accumulated considerable experience. This time, with Erik Norton's full effort and Adriaan's guidance from memory, there was at least an 80% chance of "recreating" Britney's glory.

Also, once he arrived in England, he would have to shoot two movies at the same time. Although it was convenient to have a private jet, he would have very little time in Los Angeles. Therefore, how to arrange dates with women was also an important matter. It could not be neglected, and it had to be as fair as possible. Fortunately, with Charlize, it seemed troublesome, but in fact, it was relatively easy to solve.

"Because I think I can use these to better understand their personalities." That was how Charlize answered when Adriaan asked her why she showed so much enthusiasm. Then she smiled and said, "This way, I can come up with a targeted way to drive them away one by one, and then have you all to myself."

Adriaan could not help but laugh. His response was to press Charlize against the thick floor-to-ceiling glass of the office and fiercely fix it.

But these were not the most important things. Since the beginning of August, Adriaan had been waiting for a piece of news. He had done almost everything he needed to do, but he still had no intention of leaving until he heard the news that Steve Jobs, who had returned to Apple, had once again ascended to the throne of Apple's CEO!

But this time was different. The last time Jobs was CEO of Apple, the IT company that pioneered the personal computer was thriving, but this time, Apple was teetering on the edge of a cliff. Not long ago, because of a strategic mistake, Apple's stock plunged by another 30%. But it was also because of this plunge that the original CEO, Gil Amelio, finally left, and Jobs, who served as a board adviser, took over. As for the trick …

Many people were not optimistic about the genius or madman who founded Apple and was driven out. Some IT magazines even sneered that "even Jobs can't save Apple." But Adriaan knew that the 20% of Apple that he had acquired from Jobs and privately would begin to appreciate in value in a year at most. It may be diluted later, but as long as he still had 10% of it after five years, it would still be an amazing fortune.

Jobs had acquired about 18% of Apple. Of course, it was not Jobs's, but AC Media's $150 million injection.

Jobs visited Adriaan in his office almost three weeks ago. After a few pleasantries, he got down to business: soliciting investments. Adriaan had said at the White House dinner that he was optimistic about Jobs's return to Apple, and hinted that he might be willing to invest if he could offer something that moved him. So Jobs came to see him.

But after a while, Adriaan became a little distracted. Jobs was talking about things he had heard many times before, and it was tiresome to listen to him repeatedly. Jobs suddenly became a little unhappy.

"Are you listening, Eide?" he asked suddenly.

"More or less." Adriaan nodded lazily, but with a smile, there was no contempt in his eyes. "Well, tell me how much money you need, Steve."

"There are $3 billion in assets on the financial statements, but there is not much liquid capital. There is a shortfall of about $150 million." Jobs replied stiffly. For a proud and narcissistic person like him, Adriaan's attitude was not friendly, so there was no room for negotiation.

"A hundred and fifty million?" Adriaan tilted his head and thought for a moment. Without waiting for Jobs to speak, he agreed, "Well, no problem. I can fund it."

"Really?" Jobs raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Really." Adriaan nodded. "But it's not me, it's my company, and there's a condition."

Jobs's brow furrowed, but he gestured for her to go ahead.

"It's very simple." Adriaan smiled. "I want you to be Apple's CEO!"

"Me?!" Jobs was a little surprised. His eyes flashed behind the lenses. "How is that possible? You know, Amelio is now …"

"Then get rid of him, and get rid of those who might stand in your way." Adriaan said bluntly, "The one who deserves my investment is not Apple, but Steve Jobs, who is the boss of Apple!"

Jobs was moved. He had heard a lot of flattery, but this was the first time he had ever been flattered like this. It was... quite pleasing.

"Shall I say I am honoured?" he asked, flexing his joined fingers.

"No, I'm the one who's honored. Not everyone gets to witness a miracle." Adriaan's smile did not change. "Get rid of those enemies, and then lead Apple out of the valley and up to a higher peak. Get up where you fall, right?"

After a pause, he continued, "To this day, the people at Pixar still miss you very much. Although you tried to force them to give up their stock options, John always said that no matter how tight their funds were, you would always give them whatever funds they needed to produce their animations. Although I discovered them, without your support, Pixar would not be where it is today. So, I know, and I believe, you are worth my investment. "

"Ha, that's … exciting." Jobs could not help but take a deep breath. Even with his arrogant personality, he could not help but feel a little excited.

"And you can rest assured." Adriaan continued, "We will not compete with you for control of Apple. As long as you are in that position, we will fully support you."

"So." Jobs took a deep breath and neatly unraveled the charade. "What do you want, exactly?"

"Money, and cooperation." Adrian smiled. "I've said it before. Apple will soar again in your hands. I have a hunch. I also believe that you've seen the development trend of the future. In a few years, we will definitely cross paths. When that time comes, we will have a brighter future."

Although Jobs remained calm, Adriaan, who had been watching him from the beginning, noticed that his pupils constricted.

"Thank you for your offer. I will seriously consider it. Please give me some time," he finally said.

Despite this answer, Jobs agreed a few days later, especially when the contract was placed in front of him. Written words could be overturned, but it was more reliable than verbal promises. Of course, the contract could not be signed until he became the CEO of Apple again.

"Wait and see, Krau." After learning that Amelio had stepped down, Adriaan said this to Claude, who shrugged and said nothing.

Like before, he was initially opposed to investing in Apple. After all, Apple's predicament was obvious to everyone. But Adriaan began his unique rhetoric again, "Very well, then I will invest myself. Titanic has made me enough money anyway."

Claude rolled his eyes, hesitated for a long time, and thought about his previous achievements. Finally, he agreed.

The Apple matter was basically settled. Adriaan had planned for a long time, and there was no room for mistakes. In his previous life, he had a certain level of understanding of Steve Jobs. In this life, after he had the capital to target Apple, he also collected a lot of information about the madman, and then made a series of plans. For example, his absent-mindedness when talking to Jobs in the office was just an act.

However, he still underestimated Steve Jobs. Of course, it was not that he was tricked. In fact, his goal was achieved. But on the other hand, Jobs' actions surprised him.