"A Home Entertainment Department?" Zane repeated, leaning back in his chair. "You want us to buy the rights to other people's movies so we can build a big library?"
Taro Hashimoto, the head of the SpongeBob stores, nodded eagerly. "Yes, boss. This includes selling DVDs, videotapes, and even getting money when TV channels show the movies. It's a huge business."
Zane thought about it. He knew about MGM, the old Hollywood giant. MGM wasn't making many good new movies anymore, but they were still rich. Why? Because they owned 4,000 old movies. Just letting TV stations show those old movies made them $45 million a year!
And Zane knew the future. In a few years, DVDs would become super popular. Then, online streaming (like Netflix) would take over. Having a giant library of movies would be like owning a gold mine that never runs out.
"Even after 2010," Zane thought, "when DVDs are gone, streaming sites will pay a fortune for these movies."
He had wanted to do this for a long time.
"Boss," Taro said, his voice serious, "we need to do this now. I have friends in Japan. I know that the big electronics companies, Sony and Toshiba, are secretly building new, super-powerful DVD players. When they launch them, they will need movies to play on them. They will pay huge money to any studio that owns a lot of films."
"Our company must not miss this chance!"
Zane's heart raced. Wow! he thought. Taro is amazing!
Zane knew about the future "format war" between Blu-ray (Sony) and HD DVD (Toshiba). It was a giant battle. Sony and Toshiba both lost a lot of money, but the movie studios made a fortune by selling their rights to both sides.
Disney made $760 million.
Universal made $610 million.
Even MGM made $470 million.
Zane did not want to miss out on this easy money.
"Boss," Taro said, bowing deeply, "if we start buying movies now, before Sony and Toshiba start fighting, we will make incredible profits. Please, let me do this!"
What could Zane say?
"Taro," Zane said with a serious but encouraging smile, "I agree with you. Write me a full plan, and I will bring it up at the big company meeting."
"Yes, boss!" Taro said, shaking with excitement.
After Taro left, Zane sighed, impressed. "Amazing. Everyone in Hollywood is so smart and ambitious."
He knew Taro wasn't just doing this for the company. Taro wanted a promotion. He wanted to be more than just the "toy store guy."
Zane knew all his managers—Victor, Donna, Kevin—were ambitious. They all wanted to climb the ladder. Some might even want to take his job one day! That's just how business worked. Even Steve Jobs had been kicked out of his own company once.
But Zane wasn't worried. "Heh," he smirked. "As long as I own the company, no one can touch me."
A Few Days Later...
The big January meeting was held.
First, they talked about the two big upcoming movies:
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (coming out on Valentine's Day).
300 Spartans (coming out on April 7th).
"One last thing," Zane announced with a smile. "Mr. Taro Hashimoto has a new idea. He wants to start a 'Home Entertainment Department' to buy old movies. What do you all think?"
The room buzzed with whispers.
"I agree," said Old Bill, the president of Wald Pictures. "All the big studios have huge libraries. We only own about 20 movies. It makes us look small."
"I agree, too," said Kevin Fitch. "A big library means steady money, no matter what."
"Me too," said Domino from the music company. "We should buy music rights, too!"
"And think about the TV networks," Donna added. "More movies means more stuff to show on UPN and the WB."
Everyone agreed! It was a great idea.
But there was one problem: Money. Buying the rights to hundreds of movies was expensive.
Zane looked around the room at his excited team. He smiled.
"In that case," Zane announced, "I have decided to give $100 million from the company's account to start this project."
He looked at Taro. "Mr. Hashimoto, I'm leaving this to you."
"Yes, boss!" Taro said, beaming.
Even though Zane didn't always love Taro's personality, he had to admit the man was smart and got things done. Plus, it was his idea!
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